About me
Manuel Stagars, CFA.
I build and commercialize businesses around technological and financial discontinuities. OK... what does this mean? My strongest work happens when markets are beginning to change, opportunities are still poorly defined, and someone needs to turn an emerging idea or technology into a commercial proposition.
I help companies move from zero to one. Together with founders, investors, management and/or the board I identify the real opportunity, shape the business and economic model, position the value prop, open strategic relationships, and secure customers, partners, investors, and institutional adopters around the globe that make the "one" happen.
My background spans capital markets, alternative investments, fintech, digital assets, technology, media, and entrepreneurship. I hold the CFA, CAIA and ERP designations and have founded more than eight ventures. I have built businesses in categories before they became established, sold companies, raised substantial project financing, and entered new industries. I have assembled senior partners and participants through direct outreach who have since become part of my strong international network. That experience has given me a particular edge in businesses sitting between established institutions and emerging markets or technologies.
Today I am working with founders, principals, and investors in:
• Fintech and Financial Infrastructure
• Digital Assets and Stablecoins (GENIUS)
• Asset Management and Alternative Investments
• Institutional Financial Products and Payment Rails
• Emerging Technologies
Typical areas where I contribute value include product architecture, institutional growth, strategic partnerships, commercialization, market entry, product positioning, capital formation, and the development of new distribution channels. My work is most useful during moments of transition, for instance, when a new product needs a market, a company needs its next growth vector, an emerging technology needs institutional adoption, or an ambitious idea needs a commercial path forward.
Alongside entrepreneurship and finance, I am an author and an award-winning film producer. My analytical hat helps me understand complex systems, my commercial approach finds economic opportunities, and my creative dot connecting help me make unfamiliar propositions understandable and compelling.
Independent documentary films
Books and Chapters
Academic Publications
I studied economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) with post-grad designations in finance (CFA, CAIA, ERP). At the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), I led an Open Data research project as a senior researcher. At Harvard University, Tohoku University in Sendai/Japan and the University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich (HWZ), I held a series of guest lectures.
Podcasts
Projects
Crypto Valley Pioneers
The Crypto Tour
Masterclass “Building Biotech Businesses”
Entrepreneurship Masterclass Switzerland
Press
