Welcome to Vestingnotes: Learning as I go, writing as I learn 🚀
Vestingnotes Newsletter - 09.09.2025
Ciao, I’m Jonathan (Jona),
I was born and raised in Lugano, in the beautiful Ticino region of Switzerland.
I swapped the hockey rink for university books - first in Lucerne, then in Zurich, where I studied Banking and Finance. After that, I traded textbooks for startup life.
I have now been living in Zurich for three and a half years.
Today I’m the first hire at nestermind, a proptech startup in Switzerland. I joined the company on December 27, 2024, and I’m figuring out every day what it really takes to build a company from the ground up, learning from the founders along the way (Lucas Pelloni, Severin Wullschleger and Stephan D. Meyer) and from my colleagues Claudio Gebbia, Remus Nichiteanu and soon from Sofia Luraschi who will join the company in October 🎉.
That’s me. Building chairs for our new teammates.
Why Vestingnotes?
Because being at the very beginning of a startup is a unique perspective.
It’s fast, messy, intense - and yet most of what happens in those early days never gets written down.
The voices of the first hires - the people helping to build from scratch - are often missing, and there is no community that brings them together.
Vestingnotes is my way of documenting this journey - bringing together:
First hires already in the trenches;
Students who aren’t yet ready to be founders but want to explore what it means to be a first hire;
Founders with their stories and experiences;
Investors;
And anyone curious to follow along.
It’s a space to:
Capture lessons from life as a first hire;
Explore shifts in proptech and real estate in Switzerland and beyond;
Reflect on team dynamics, timing, and the human side of startups.
And keep asking the bigger question that drives my curiosity:
“How do the right people at the right time, in the right market, turn ideas into companies that last?”
What you’ll find here
A mix of personal notes and broader reflections on:
First hire perspective → lessons from being a first hire, equity in practice, how culture and roles take shape when the team is still small and a lot’s more.
Proptech & real estate → observations on how these markets are evolving in Switzerland and beyond.
People & growth → reflections on timing, team dynamics, and the human side of startups.
Who it’s for
Vestingnotes is for first hires, students curious about startups, founders, investors, and anyone who wants to follow the journey.
The bigger picture
I don’t know exactly where this will lead - and that’s the beauty of the journey.
For now, it’s a place to capture notes, lessons and mistakes. Over time… keep following and you’ll see 😉
This is just the beginning. I have plenty of ideas for what comes next - and I’d love to have you along for the ride!
Thanks for reading - and if you subscribe, welcome to Vestingnotes! 🎉
See you next week 🕶️
Cheers,
Jona