Patrick Anquetil is an innovator and entrepreneur who studied mechanical engineering at ETH Zurich. His third and current company to date, Portal Instruments, builds needle-free injectors.

Patrick grew up in Paris, with a view of the Eiffel Tower from his kitchen window. But he always knew he wanted to study abroad. He decided to study mechanical engineering at ETH because he found the combination of theory and practice on offer there especially appealing. For his master's thesis, Patrick went to the University of Tokyo. The logical next step for Patrick was then to move into the entrepreneurial environment at MIT, which he describes as “a sister school of ETH.” Between 2006 and 2012, he founded two startup companies in the field of medical technology, and he has since then founded a third.

For Patrick, everything is an apprenticeship, and he knew from the start that ETH would “a place where stuff happens.” On his start-up experience, he says being an entrepreneur is always harder than you think.

This is his story.