Nicola Schwendimann. Sales Consultant and Promoter.

Nicola began his IT apprenticeship at TBZ Technische Berufsschule Zürich in 2009 and graduated as an IT Specialist with a Federal VET Diploma in 2013. Learning software as a craft, not a buzzword.

In 2016, he completed his vocational baccalaureate with a focus on design and art at the Gewerbliche Berufsschule Chur. A year that expanded his technical education with formal and creative thinking, and explains why Helda's work today is not only functional but also aesthetically coherent. In the same year, he also completed the vocational trainer course at ibW Höhere Fachschule Südostschweiz, enabling him to pass on knowledge in a structured manner.

From 2017 to 2021, he pursued a Bachelor's degree at FHGR Fachhochschule Graubünden, BSc in Information Science with a specialization in Digital Business Management. Four years that combined technical understanding, database and web technologies with business management. Precisely the combination needed later to speak the language of the CEO, IT management, and marketing simultaneously.

From October 2015, he spent five and a half years at Würth ITensis in Chur, as an IT Business Analyst in a corporate environment with a strict governance framework. Gathering requirements, working with departments, development, and external stakeholders, translating processes between people who speak different languages. The realization from this period: the true core competence in complex IT projects is not technology, but understanding and integrating diverse interests.

In parallel, he served nine years in the Swiss army, from 2014 to 2023, trained as a lieutenant and later promoted to first lieutenant. As a platoon leader in the EKF troops in the field of sensor and effector technology, he had direct personnel responsibility for a platoon of 35 to 40 people, plus three to four group leaders. Electronic reconnaissance and jamming are technically demanding, time-critical, and allow no improvisation: reconnaissance, jamming, and effects in the electromagnetic spectrum, with systems whose handling must be flawless. The promotion to first lieutenant was not automatic but required an overall assessment of "very good" in three consecutive refresher courses. Leadership under time pressure, decisions in unclear situations, responsibility for results. These cannot be dismissed later.

From July 2022 to July 2023, he worked at Swiss Life as a Senior Information Technology Business Analyst. One year in one of Switzerland's largest insurance groups. Modeling requirements, conducting workshops, prioritizing features with multiple stakeholders simultaneously, without direct authority. Achieving impact through persuasion and structured communication. In regulated large organizations, the quality of requirements, not technology, determines project success.

In May 2020, Bob's Flies, Nicola's brand for fly-fishing equipment, launched with a co-founder. Not as a portfolio piece, but because he himself is a fly fisherman and needs the gear. The side effect: every month we face the same questions as our clients. Inventory, margin, returns, advertising budget that doesn't add up. Those who only consult lose this feeling.

In December 2020, Nicola simultaneously founded Digital Solution Schwendimann, his first own consulting company. From zero to a solid customer base, completely bootstrapped. Digital transformation and system implementations for SMEs. First entrepreneurial lesson: execution before concept, customer results before self-interest. Predecessor of Helda.

Then, in December 2023, Helda Solutions. Positioning itself as a sales consultant and promoter for Swiss SMEs. The same entrepreneurial signature as its predecessor, sharpened to one model: fixed costs for the work, commission for the result. From the second year, only commission. If we don't achieve anything, we earn nothing.

Since November 2025, additional mandates as a Business Analyst for IT service providers in the public administration sector. Corporate expertise remains relevant, Helda remains his own operation.

Certified Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (November 2019) and Cambridge Business English Higher C1 (May 2019). Member of swiss made software and Swico, the Swiss association of digitalizers. Not as decoration, but because both associations shape the framework conditions under which Helda's clients operate.

Today, we work for a maximum of six companies simultaneously, from Zurich, throughout Switzerland. Cable cars, experience providers, crafts. Businesses with a product that works, and sales that are still analog.