December at Friendly in numbers

• Software revenue: 34 526 CHF (-0.2 %)
• Consulting revenue: 9 305 CHF (-5 %)
• Total revenue: 43 831 CHF (-1 %)
• Costs: 41 794 CHF (-3 %)
• Profit: 2 037 CHF (+43 %)
• Profit margin: 4.7 %  (+45 %)
• Active customers: 186 (+1 %)
• Churn Rate (lost customers): 0.5 % (-75 %)
• Website visits: 3 079 (+9 %)

These were the key developments in December:

Revenues: longer sales cycles, MRR slightly down

As we increasingly work with privacy-sensitive enterprise customers, our sales cycles tend to be longer. In this segment, closing a contract usually involves extensive legal reviews: both sides exchange and refine documents, complete questionnaires, discuss and revise proposals, and walk through concrete use cases.

These steps are essential for a long-term, successful collaboration, and we approach them with care and responsibility. As a result, we do not close a new enterprise subscription every single month.

In December, no larger new subscription started. Due to two smaller new customers and one churn, our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from software subscriptions temporarily declined by -0.2 % to CHF 34 526.

(Spoiler: a major enterprise subscription starts in January — and we are very much looking forward to it.)

Our consulting revenue came in at CHF 9 305 in December, which is a very strong result given vacation absences and the holiday season.

Overall, our total revenue declined slightly by -1 % in December to CHF 43 831.

Costs: new expenses for brand protection

Our salaries remained unchanged in December. However, since the consulting workload of our Analytics freelancer, Peter Boehlke, fluctuates from month to month and was a bit lower again in December, our total salary costs decreased by around CHF 1 400.

This month, we are reporting salary costs for Lukas Frei for the last time. Lukas had been working with us since March 2025 on a small workload, and we truly valued our collaboration with him.

Starting in January 2026, Lukas wants to simplify his life. Even without his work at Friendly, he balances multiple jobs alongside family life and personal time. We wholeheartedly support his decision and wish him all the very best.

Our marketing costs increased slightly again in December, this time for a less pleasant reason. A young Swiss software company has been using the term “Friendly” in its company name for several months. We engaged in direct conversations but were ultimately unable to agree on a solution that seemed fair to both parties, which is why we are now taking legal steps to protect our brand. Most of the resulting costs are covered by our legal expenses insurance. The remaining costs will be amortized over the coming months.

Expenses for product, administration, and donations remained unchanged. We recorded slightly lower costs in the area of events and team culture.

As a result, our total expenses decreased by -3 % compared to the previous month, amounting to CHF 41 794 in December.

Here are all our costs including salaries for December 2025 in detail:

The next chapter of our Open Startup Reports

As mentioned in the teaser, this is the final Open Startup Report in its current format.

Let’s be clear right away: we will remain transparent. What will change is the format — and that change reflects how our business has evolved.

In Friendly’s early years, we were fully in startup mode. Every month brought a crisis, a success, a change, or a new idea.

Our finances fluctuated significantly, and month after month we reported on new highs and lows.

By now, things have stabilized. We are growing slowly and steadily, improving our internal structures, gradually expanding our team, and planning further product development.

The months no longer feel like a roller coaster. And what happens to our finances from one month to the next no longer feels like the most interesting story to tell.

We therefore decided to continue the Open Startup Report in a new quarterly format called Open Startup Quarterly.

With a quarterly cadence, we can provide a clearer overview and a better interpretation of Friendly’s long-term financial development.

We also plan to expand the reports in terms of content and share more behind-the-scenes insights — for example into our teams, ongoing projects, strategic considerations, and key learnings. We are currently working on the exact format.

To stay up to date and not miss the first edition of the new Open Startup Quarterly, feel free to follow Stefan on LinkedIn or sign up for our newsletter here:

The first Open Startup Quarterly for Q 1 2026 will be published in April.

Conclusion

We close the month of December with a profit* of CHF 2 037 and a profit margin of 4.7 %.

Despite the tight margins of the past two months (see November), our overall profit margin for 2025 came in exactly at 12.0 %, precisely meeting our annual target.

With Stefan’s salary at CHF 4 025, we also exacly met our annual target. We would have liked to increase it further this month, but decided against it in order to reach our targeted annual margin.

With that, an eventful year comes to an end. We will soon share more in our Open Startup Year in Review 2025. We are looking forward to a friendly 2026 together!

* Friendly has fully recovered its early-stage losses as of June 2025. Our monthly profit now only comes with the caveat that Stefan, our founder, still isn’t paying himself a full salary for his work – we’re working on it.

Der Beitrag The last monthly report: Open Startup Report December 2025 erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

November at Friendly in numbers

• Software revenue: 34 602 CHF (+3 %)
• Consulting revenue: 9 816 CHF (-28 %)
• Total revenue: 44 418 CHF (-6 %)
• Costs: 42 995 CHF (+9 %)
• Profit: 1 423 CHF (-81 %)
• Profit margin: 3.2 %  (-80 %)
• Active customers: 185 (-1 %)
• Churn Rate (lost customers): 2.1 % (+1 %)
• Website visits: 2 835 (+12 %)

These were the key developments in November:

Revenues: Our TRR surpasses CHF 1 million

Our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from software subscriptions increased by +3 % in November, reaching CHF 34 602.

This brings our total recurring revenue (TRR) to over one million Swiss francs, landing at CHF 1 029 681. A quiet milestone we’re genuinely happy about.

Behind this number lies a lot of patience, thought, ideas, and careful day-to-day work. As a bootstrapped company, we’ve earned every single franc ourselves – and that feels good.

Our consulting revenue declined this month to CHF 9 816. This is within the range of normal fluctuations and remains at a solid level overall.

The number of active customers also declined slightly. Two new customers were offset by four churns, mainly smaller customers from our early days. As our customer profile continues to shift toward larger enterprise clients, we are still gaining more MRR than we lose.

Overall, total revenue in November fell by -6 % to CHF 44 418.

Costs: Higher expenses for salaries, marketing, and events

In November, our payroll costs increased again by more than CHF 1 000. While salaries for almost all team members remained unchanged, our Analytics freelancer Peter Boehlke worked more consulting hours for our customers.

He supported customers with setting up Friendly Analytics, configuring tracking parameters, assisting with data exports, and providing valuable training on how to use the software effectively.

Our marketing costs also increased. As previously announced, we are paying the designer of our new website, Nicolas Previdoli, a substantial voluntary additional bonus for his outstanding work. In total, we are paying him three times the originally agreed amount. We are amortizing this bonus over the coming months.

In the area of events and team culture, we recorded a higher one-off expense: we supported Joey, Matic, and Luke in attending Mautic World Conference 2025 in London, which took place in early November.

Engaging with the Mautic community – the open-source software behind Friendly Automate – is a given for us and enriching for both sides. At the conference, we shared our knowledge in a talk, contributed to the community sprint, deepened partnerships, and had many inspiring conversations.

Expenses for product development, administration, and donations remained unchanged.

As a result, our total costs for November amounted to CHF 42 995, an increase of 9 % compared to the previous month.

Here are all our costs including salaries for November 2025 in detail:

A new storefront for Friendly

It’s finally here: our long-awaited new website has been live since December 8, 2025. We’re very happy about it and proud of the result.

Read more about it in our blog post.

Conclusion

At the end of the month, we’re left with only a small profit of CHF 1 423, resulting in a slim profit margin of 3.2 %.

On both the revenue and cost sides, this tight result is driven by one-off events, which means we can treat it as an outlier.

We remain profitable and have a stable growth outlook – that’s what matters to us.

* Friendly has fully recovered its early-stage losses as of June 2025. Our monthly profit now only comes with the caveat that Stefan, our founder, still isn’t paying himself a full salary for his work – we’re working on it.

Der Beitrag One Million in TRR! Open Startup Report November 2025 erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

What started with a sales pitch from copywriter and web designer Nicolas Previdoli turned into a genuinely great collaboration over the past few months.

We don’t usually respond to sales pitches – but this one immediately stood out. It was clear from the start that Nico had put real thought into it. His first draft was already so well developed that large parts of it made their way almost unchanged into the final version.

Working with Nico over the past months has been a real pleasure. We’re impressed by his ability to clearly identify and communicate our USP, as well as by his friendliness, clarity, speed, and team mindset.

The result is a new virtual shop window that reflects our mindset, our products, and our value proposition far better than before. Clear, calm, and focused on what matters.

Our company logo and product logos have also been refreshed, giving them a new look that we like a lot.

We’re very happy with the result – and, of course, always glad to hear your feedback.

Der Beitrag A new shop window for Friendly: Our new website is live erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

October at Friendly in numbers

• Software revenue: 33 467 CHF (-0.5%)
• Consulting revenue: 13 675 CHF (+2%)
• Total revenue: 47 142 CHF (+0.1%)
• Costs: 39 620 CHF (+1%)
• Profit: 7 522 CHF (-6%)
• Profit margin: 16.0%  (-6%)
• Active customers: 187 (-1%)
• Churn Rate (lost customers): 2.1% (n/a)
• Website visits: 2 532 (+3%)

These were the key developments in October:

Revenues: MRR flat, consulting strong

Our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from software subscriptions remained flat in October at CHF 33 467.

Since shifting our focus more toward enterprise customers, the pace of customer growth has slowed – but each new enterprise customer brings in significantly more revenue. As a result, overall our MRR has grown faster in 2025 than in previous years.

At the same time, we increased our consulting revenue by another +2% to CHF 13 675.

This result was driven by custom setups and onboarding projects, training sessions, in-house development, and newsletter creation. Our October clients included a bank, a hospital, a nonprofit organization, several insurance companies and online retailers, and a public sector entity.

As mentioned before, our consulting business has reached a high plateau. The trend lines in this chart reflect that:

Total revenue in October rose slightly by +0.1% to CHF 47 142.

Costs: Salary increases for Luke, Joey, Kathrin and Stefan

Personnel costs increased by over CHF 2 000 in October due to salary increases for Luke, Joey, and Kathrin – in recognition of their contributions to Friendly’s recent growth.

We also increased Stefan’s salary to CHF 4 025 – meaning we’ve already reached our 2025 goal of paying him CHF 4 000 per month, two months earlier than planned.

Additionally, our developer Matic expanded his capacity from 10% to 30% as of October, allowing us to further strengthen our technical team.

Product, events, and admin costs remained mostly unchanged.

Our marketing expenses declined in October, as we completed depreciation of our Friendly rebranding project (reveal coming soon!). That said, we’ll continue to recognize related expenses over the coming months, as we’ve decided to award a bonus to our designer Nicolas Previdoli in appreciation of his outstanding work on the rebranding.

In September, we had made a one-time larger donation to Mautic. Excluding that, our monthly contributions to nonprofit causes and memberships have returned to their usual level.

All in all, our October expenses amounted to CHF 39 620 – up only 1% from the previous month, despite the salary increases.

Here are all our costs including salaries for October 2025 in detail:

Conclusion

In October, we recorded a solid profit* of CHF 7 522 with a profit margin of 16%.

That marks 21 consecutive months of positive results. We’re now in a position to build reserves and invest in new team members – more info coming soon on our career page.

* Friendly has fully recovered its early-stage losses as of June 2025. Our monthly profit now only comes with the caveat that Stefan, our founder, still isn’t paying himself a full salary for his work – we’re working on it.

Der Beitrag Annual goal reached – and pay raises for the team: Open Startup Report October 2025 erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

September at Friendly in numbers

• Software revenue: 33 620 CHF (+14%)
• Consulting revenue: 13 471 CHF (+15%)
• Total revenue: 47 091 CHF (+15%)
• Costs: 39 086 CHF (+8%)
• Profit: 8 005 CHF (+58%)
• Profit margin: 17%  (+38%)
• Active customers: 189 (+2%)
• Churn Rate (lost customers): 0.0% (-100%)
• Website visits: 2 466 (+7%)

These were the key developments in September:

Revenues: MRR surpasses CHF 30 000, consulting on a high plateau

In September, our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from software subscriptions reached CHF 33 620, representing growth of +14% compared to August.

That means our MRR has now passed the CHF 30 000 mark – faster than ever before.

It took us 16 months to reach our first CHF 10 000 in MRR (May 2021). Growth then slowed: it took another 40 months to pass the CHF 20 000 mark (September 2024). Now, just 12 months later, we’ve exceeded CHF 30 000.

We’re proud of this progress – made possible by bold and thoughtful decisions from our leadership, the creativity and dedication of our team, and the trust and satisfaction of our customers.

The number of active customers increased from 186 to 189 in September, with a churn rate of 0%.

Consulting revenue reached a strong CHF 13 471. In consulting, we’ve now hit a (high) plateau that we can only expand with additional team resources. That’s something we’re planning – although our main strategic focus is on growing our software revenue and partnering with reliable agencies.

Total revenue in September was CHF 47 091 – up +15% from the previous month.

Costs: Increasing our donation percentage

We paid higher salary costs again in September. Our freelance Analytics consultant Peter Boehlke was involved in several projects and billed more hours this month.

(A small correction to last month’s report: Stefan’s gross salary has not yet reached CHF 3 862, as previously stated, but is currently CHF 3 450. The CHF 3 862 shown in the far-right column of the cost table includes our employer contributions.)

In the product area, we added a new backup server. Costs related to team culture, events, admin, and marketing changed only slightly.

September also marked the final write-off from our rebranding project – and our new website is almost ready to go live! We’re excited to share it soon. You can already see a small preview from our outstanding designer Nicolas Previdoli on LinkedIn.

As our revenue has grown significantly over the past year, we’ve recalculated our donation percentage and increased our monthly contributions from CHF 391 to CHF 535.

We now donate CHF 130 each (up from 80 CHF) to SWISSAID, Swiss Food Bank, and the Swiss Refugee Council.

In our early years, we weren’t yet able to fully meet our 1%-of-revenue donation commitment. That’s why our current donation percentage includes a small monthly amount to reduce this historical deficit. To accelerate the process, we’ve also decided to provide one-time, larger support for Mautic, the open-source project behind Friendly Automate.

Total expenses in September were CHF 39 086 – up +8% from August.

Here are all our costs including salaries for September 2025 in detail:

Conclusion

We closed September with a strong profit* of CHF 8 005 and a profit margin of 17%. Our average monthly margin for 2025 now stands at 12.8%.

Thanks to this steady growth, we’re planning a round of salary adjustments in October – more on that in our next Open Startup Report.

And we’re preparing to expand our team – keep an eye on our career page, where we’ll soon publish a new opening.

* Friendly has fully recovered its early-stage losses as of June 2025. Our monthly profit now only comes with the caveat that Stefan, our founder, still isn’t paying himself a full salary for his work – we’re working on it.

Der Beitrag 30 000 CHF MRR! Sharing the Growth: Open Startup Report September 2025 erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

August at Friendly in numbers

• Software revenue: 29 452 CHF (+6%)
• Consulting revenue: 11 677 CHF (+12%)
• Total revenue: 41 129 CHF (+7%)
• Costs: 36 063 CHF (+3%)
• Profit: 5 066 CHF (+55%)
• Profit margin: 12.3%  (+44%)
• Active customers: 186 (-3%)
• Churn Rate (lost customers): 2.6% (n/a)
• Website visits: 2 303 (-7%)

These were the key developments in August:

Revenues: Strong growth in software and consulting

In 2025, we’ve been able to significantly accelerate our software revenue growth – from an average of +1.8% per month in 2024 to an average of +3.7% per month so far in 2025.

In August, we performed even better: our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from software subscriptions rose by a solid +6% to CHF 29 452.

And that’s despite a relatively high churn rate of 2.6% – with five fewer active customers compared to July.

This growth is primarily driven by new enterprise customers, for whom we’ve been expanding our capacity since spring (as reported in our April update). We’re pleased with this development and continuing to pursue this strategy.

Consulting revenue also grew significantly, up +12% to CHF 11 677. August projects included the setup of a larger enterprise instance, various custom solutions, analytics implementations, newsletter design work, and customer training sessions.

Our consulting clients included a business association, a pharmaceutical company, several insurance providers, a vehicle manufacturer, a hospital, a fintech startup, an international non-profit, and an e-commerce retailer.

Working with companies and organizations from such a wide range of industries continues to be an exciting and rewarding challenge each month.

Our total revenue in August grew by a healthy +7% to CHF 41 129.

Costs: Stefan’s salary nearly at CHF 4 000, cost increase remains moderate

Thanks to the positive business performance, we were able to raise Stefan’s salary again in August. His nominal workload is now 30%, and his salary increased from CHF 3 218 in July to CHF 3 862.

At the beginning of 2025, we had set a goal to raise Stefan’s monthly salary to CHF 4 000 by the end of the year. That felt like an ambitious goal at the time: Stefan didn’t take any salary at all during our first four years in business, and his symbolic salary of CHF 500 remained unchanged for nine months (from April 2024 to December 2024).

It wasn’t until January 2025 that we began steadily increasing his salary with a clear focus. We didn’t expect to come this close to our goal already in August. Now it’s looking very likely that we’ll not only reach but exceed it in 2025.

We also payed a higher compensation for our analytics expert Peter Boehlke in August, as he worked more hours for us.

Product and admin costs remained stable, while event and marketing expenses declined slightly.

In total, our August expenses amounted to CHF 36 063 – a moderate increase of 3% compared to the previous month.

Here are all our costs including salaries for August 2025 in detail:

Conclusion

In August, we recorded another solid profit* of CHF 5 066 with a profit margin of 12.3%.

Our average monthly profit margin for 2025 so far is also exactly 12.3%.

That puts us well on track to hit – or even exceed – our second financial goal for 2025: achieving a stable monthly margin of 12%, compared to 9.2% in 2024 and 3.3% in 2023.

We’re excited to see what the coming months bring.

* Since June 2025, Friendly has fully offset its cumulative early-stage losses. Our monthly profit now only comes with the caveat that Stefan, our founder, still isn’t paying himself a full salary for his work – we’re working on it.

Der Beitrag Our goals are within reach: Open Startup Report August 2025 erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

July at Friendly in numbers

• Software revenue: 27 834 CHF (+0.3%)
• Consulting revenue: 10 436 CHF (-46%)
• Total revenue: 38 270 CHF (-19%)
• Costs: 34 991 CHF (+4%)
• Profit: 3 279 CHF (-76%)
• Profit margin: 8.6%  (-70%)
• Active customers: 191 (–)
• Churn Rate (lost customers): 0.0% (-100%)
• Website visits: 2 468 (-3%)

These were the key developments in July:

Revenues: Solid levels in MRR and consulting

Our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from software subscriptions increased slightly by +0.3% to CHF 27 834.

Consulting revenue dropped by -46% to CHF 10 436 – but only after the exceptional spike of CHF 19 403 in June. Compared to May (CHF 10 778), July was in line with expectations.

Consulting projects in July included custom development of a Mautic plugin, the setup of an enterprise instance, analytics optimizations, and Automate training sessions.

So after a record month in June, July marks a return to normal operations – with stable revenue, consistent MRR, and a steady customer base.

We see this as a success: Last year in July 2024, we were in the middle of a summer slump. This year, despite vacation absences, we managed to maintain solid numbers.

Our total revenue in July was CHF 38 270 – down -19% from June, but up +8% compared to May.

We’re back to sustainable, day-to-day business.

Costs: Slight increase in payroll costs

Our payroll costs rose by just over CHF 1 000 in July. This increase was mainly due to overtime by our developer Matic Zagmajster, who hasn’t been mentioned much in previous reports. Matic played a key role in the delivery of the above-mentioned plugin project, which brought substantial value to our customer – and we’re happy to recognize his contribution here.

For the second month in a row, we expanded our server capacity, which resulted in slightly higher product-related costs.

Marketing, events, admin and donation expenses remained largely unchanged.

In total, our costs amounted to CHF 34 991 in July – a 4% increase again over the previous month.

Here are all our costs including salaries for July 2025 in detail:

Conclusion

Our profit* for July came in at a solid CHF 3 279, with a profit margin of 8.6%.

After June’s high-flying profit of CHF 13 598, July might feel modest – but this is where our strength lies: We’re focused on sustainable growth, not quick wins.

July brought us back to the ground – but onto solid, healthy ground.

* Since June 2025, Friendly has fully offset its cumulative early-stage losses. Our monthly profit now only comes with the caveat that Stefan, our founder, still isn’t paying himself a full salary for his work.

Der Beitrag After an exceptional month – back to normal business: Open Startup Report July 2025 erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

June at Friendly in numbers

• Software revenue: 27 754 CHF (+12%)
• Consulting revenue: 19 403 CHF (+80%)
• Total revenue: 47 157 CHF (+33%)
• Costs: 33 559 CHF (+4%)
• Profit: 13 598 CHF (+316%)
• Profit margin: 28.8%  (+213%)
• Active customers: 191 (+1%)
• Churn Rate (lost customers): 1.1% (n/a)
• Website visits: 2 550 (+6%)

From red to black: Friendly reports first cumulative profit

June 2025 marks a milestone in the history of Friendly: for the first time since our founding, our total result over the entire business period is in the black. While we’ve been consistently profitable month after month for more than a year now, the losses from our early days hadn’t yet been fully offset.

To make Friendly possible during those initial, loss-making years, our founder Stefan Vetter had invested not only his time but also personal funds and borrowed money from friends. That makes this moment all the more meaningful – for the company, and also for Stefan personally.

Closing the chapter on early losses means a lot to me. The trust and patience have paid off. I’m proud of what we’re building together.

Stefan Vetter, Founder and CEO of Friendly

Here’s a full overview of our business figures from 2020 until today:

	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025 until June
TRR	26 823 CHF	117 391 CHF	156 327 CHF	188 691 CHF	234 589 CHF	146 885 CHF
Consulting	0	0	18 385 CHF	90 313 CHF	122 191 CHF	70 089 CHF
Total Revenue	26 823 CHF	117 391 CHF	174 712 CHF	279 004 CHF	356 780 CHF	220 974 CHF
Costs	-52 672 CHF	-133 038 CHF	-205 736 CHF	-266 038 CHF	-321 850 CHF	-190 368 CHF
Annual profit/loss	-25 849 CHF	-15 647 CHF	-31 024 CHF	+12 966 CHF	+34 930 CHF	+30 606 CHF
Total profit/loss	-25 849 CHF	-41 496 CHF	-72 520 CHF	-59 554 CHF	-24 625 CHF	+5 981 CHF

It was the record-breaking numbers in June that made us cross that line.

Revenues: Record results in MRR and consulting

After our major business decision in April to pause new Automate subscriptions, our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from software subscriptions initially plateaued, just as expected.

In the meantime, we used part of the freed-up capacity to focus on acquiring new enterprise clients – and it paid off. In June, our MRR jumped by 12% – the highest growth rate we’ve ever recorded – reaching CHF 27 754.

This positive momentum also affected our consulting revenue, which rose by a remarkable 80% to a record high of CHF 19 403.

Major projects included setting up an enterprise instance, developing custom solutions for an insurance company, and hosting several analytics training sessions.

Our total revenue thus increased from CHF 35 515 in May by 33% to CHF 47 157 in June.

Costs: Another salary increase for Stefan

Thanks to the strong revenue development, we increased Stefan’s salary again in June – now CHF 2 875 gross for a 25% nominal workload. We’re on a solid path to reaching our goal of CHF 4 000 per month for Stefan by the end of the year.

His increased salary, along with higher compensation for our freelancer Peter Boehlke, led to increased personnel costs.

In marketing, commission payments were higher, and we continued the amortization for our upcoming Friendly rebranding (here’s a small preview).

Our hosting costs also rose slightly due to an upgrade in server capacity. On the other hand, a major amortization ended in June, so overall product-related costs went down slightly.

Since we held this year’s team retreat in Lavaux a bit earlier than last year’s, the amortizations for both retreats overlap for two months. Still, overall expenses for events and team culture decreased slightly.

Administration and donations remained unchanged.

This brings our total costs for June to CHF 33 559, an increase of 4% compared to the previous month.

Here are all our costs including salaries for June 2025 in detail:

Conclusion

June closed with the highest monthly profit* in our company’s history: CHF 13 598, a 316% increase compared to May.

Our profit margin reached 28.8%.

We’re aware that this level of performance won’t necessarily be sustainable in the coming months – consulting volume tends to fluctuate, and several team members have vacations planned in July.

Still: we’re enjoying this moment.

And finally! We can’t fully retire our disclaimer just yet – but we can shorten it:

* “Profit” with the restriction that Stefan does not yet pay himself a full salary for his work and, as the sole founder without investors, still has to make up for the loss so far.

Der Beitrag Record month and turning point – Friendly hits cumulative profit: Open Startup Report June 2025 erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

It’s a chance to take a short break together from our everyday work, which we spend in places we choose ourselves: Stefan in the beautiful Swiss Thurgau, Luke in Nussbaumen near Baden, Luki in Lucerne, Kathrin in Bern, and Joey in Budapest.

During our retreat, we spend a weekend together in real life – with meaningful conversations, delicious meals, and relaxed shared experiences.

This year, we had a special reason to celebrate: 5 years of Friendly!

To mark the occasion, we met in early June 2025 among the vineyards of Lavaux, on the shores of Lake Geneva.

Lavaux: Vineyards with a View

Lavaux is one of the most impressive wine regions in Switzerland – and perhaps one of the most beautiful in Europe. Stretching between Lausanne and Montreux, the area covers around 800 hectares of terraced vineyards cascading down to Lake Geneva.

Since 2007, Lavaux has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site – not only for its natural beauty but also for the centuries-old cultural landscape shaped with great care by generations of winemakers.

The region is best known for its Chasselas grape, which yields light, mineral white wines. But you’ll also find expressive reds here, especially Pinot Noir. And Lavaux offers more than just wine: Narrow villages with charming stone houses, historic wineries, and spectacular views of the lake and alps make this a truly magical place.

The Open Wine Cellars

Every year over Pentecost weekend, dozens of winemakers in the canton of Vaud open their doors and invite the public to taste their wines. With a tasting glass in hand, you can walk from village to village through the vineyards, stopping at participating wineries along the way. Friendly hosts, regional specialties, music – and of course, plenty of exciting wines await.

The Caves Ouvertes attract many visitors every year – not just from the region: As we heard from our hotel, some guests even travel all the way from the US just for this weekend.

The welcoming atmosphere of the event, combined with the extraordinary landscape right on the lake, makes the Open Wine Cellars of Vaud an experience known far beyond Switzerland.

The perfect occasion to toast to five years of Friendly.

Off to a Refreshing Start

From the moment I got on the train, everything was organized. It felt great – I felt very well taken care of.

Lukas Frei, our Customer Happiness Manager

For Stefan, Luki, and Luke, the retreat got off to a relaxed start – with coffee in the train’s dining car and views of the passing Swiss countryside. Once in Lausanne, Luke took on the role of tour guide and showed us a few of his favorite spots in the city before we refueled with excellent burgers at Green Van.

After checking into the Hotel Rivage Lutry, we headed straight to the lake – a dip in the cold water was the perfect refreshment after the journey.

The start was great – Luke showed us Lausanne, we had burgers, and went swimming in the lake.

Stefan Vetter, our CEO

Kathrin joined us in the afternoon, and we ended the day together at Bleu Lézard – with good food, happy conversations, and excitement for the weekend ahead.

One small downside: Joey unfortunately couldn’t join this year’s retreat due to family reasons.

Fine Wining by the Lake

On Saturday, after a generous breakfast, we set off for our vineyard hike. From Lutry, we took a beautifully restored paddle steamer across Lake Geneva to Rivaz. The ride itself was already a highlight.

In Rivaz, we visited the Lavaux Vinorama and watched Une Année Vigneronne – a powerful documentary about the winegrowing year (trailer). It showed us just how much craftsmanship and manual labor goes into each bottle of wine.

We then set off on foot through the vineyards, following the route from wegwandern.ch.

Just above Rivaz, we stumbled across a small, standalone hut in the vineyards and met Madame Dubois from Didier Imhof Wines. She welcomed us warmly and invited us to taste her wines. The red Malbec – a new grape variety for the region – stood out: bold, with subtle barrel-aged notes. It was Kathrin’s favorite.

We continued through the picturesque slopes toward Epesses. The weather was kind to us – it never rained while we were on the road, only during breaks.

That was the case at Clos des Moines, right by the trail, where we found shelter just in time. Under the canopy, with wine, cheese, chocolate, and the sound of alphorns, waiting out the rain turned out to be a perfect little interlude.

We passed quickly through the village of Epesses – it was very busy – and continued toward Riex in high spirits and with lively conversation.

It was great to see almost the whole team in person again. We had deep conversations about Friendly, current developments, and future plans. It felt good to speak so openly and directly.

Lukas Sigel, our COO & CCO

A bit further up, in Chenaux, we discovered Domaine Badoux-Parisod – a small, welcoming winery with expressive red wines. We sat in the garden with a view over the vineyards, enjoyed the wines – and treated ourselves to raisin ice cream. Of course.

Full of impressions, we strolled back through the vineyards around Grandvaux and Aran toward Lutry, tasting a few more wines along the way and enjoying the conversations, the old paths, and our constant companion to the left: the calm lake.

My takeaway from the wine hike: It’s worth starting early – the winegrowers have more time to talk to you. I especially enjoyed the small, tucked-away wine cellars right in the vineyards – away from the busy villages.

Kathrin Schmid, our CMO & CISO

Tired and content, we arrived back in Lutry. After a short rest at the hotel, we headed out to dinner at Wagyu, a Japanese steakhouse right on the harbor. We enjoyed sushi, hot pot, and steak and enjoyed a relaxed end to our retreat.

My memory of the retreat: very beautiful area, great views, great conversations. A truly enjoyable experience.

Stefan Vetter, our CEO

We’re proud of how far we’ve come with Friendly – and excited about the years to come.

Behind the Scenes: The Bill

At Friendly, we cover all retreat costs for our team members. And, as always, we open our books and share what the retreat cost us this year.

Here are all expenses for our 2025 retreat, including travel, accommodation, food, and activities:

Der Beitrag 5 Years of Friendly! Our Team Retreat No. 5 in Lavaux erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

May at Friendly in numbers

• Software revenue: 24 737 CHF (–)
• Consulting revenue: 10 778 CHF (-26%)
• Total revenue: 35 515 CHF (-10%)
• Costs: 32 245 CHF (-7%)
• Profit: 3 270 CHF (-28%)
• Profit margin: 9.2%  (-21%)
• Active customers: 190* (–)
• Churn Rate (lost customers): 0.0% (-100%)
• Website visits: 2 395 (+2%)

* Until last month, an error had crept into the number of our active customers, which we have now discovered and corrected. We record 22 additional customers here compared to April, but in reality the number of our customers has not increased.

These were the key developments in May:

Revenues: Software flat, consulting strong

Last month we made a major business decision: for now, we’re no longer offering new Starter or Professional subscriptions for Friendly Automate (more about that here).

The immediate consequence: in May, our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from software subscriptions showed no growth. It remained at CHF 24 737.

We achieved a very solid result in consulting, generating CHF 10 778. Although this was a 26% drop compared to April, the decrease was mainly due to our freelancer Peter Boehlke working fewer hours. Since Peter is paid hourly, this also resulted in lower costs on our side (see below under Costs).

The number of active customers remained stable. We didn’t gain any new customers in May, but we also didn’t lose any.

Total revenue for May 2025 was CHF 35 515.

Costs: Lower payroll, new costs for rebranding

Our payroll expenses dropped by just under CHF 3 000 in May, mainly due to the reduced number of consulting hours from Peter.

At the same time, we were able to further increase Stefan’s salary. Our goal is to pay Stefan a monthly salary of at least CHF 4 000 by the end of 2025. In May, we raised his official workload from 15% to 20%, resulting in a salary of CHF 2 300.

In the product area, the monthly amortization of CHF 333 no longer applies, as the costs for the redesign of Friendly Automate have now been fully offset.

Following the new design of Friendly Automate, we are now working on a complete visual rebranding of Friendly, including a new website, logo, and color palette. (More on this soon – here’s a small preview.) The costs for this rebranding will be amortized over five months.

Event-related expenses rose slightly, while costs for administration and donations remained unchanged.

Total expenses for May came to CHF 32 245.

Here are all our costs including salaries for May 2025 in detail:

Conclusion

Despite the pause in software growth, we ended May with a profit* of CHF 3 270 – a 28% drop compared to April, but just in line with the six-month average.

Our profit margin of 9.2% also matches the average for the past six months.

We’re happy with this result. The decision to pause new subscriptions for Friendly Automate (except Enterprise) has freed up capacity – which we’ve already used to give our existing customers more attention and to focus on the resource-intensive acquisition of new Enterprise clients.

We expect a positive business development in the months ahead.

* “Profit” with the restriction that Stefan does not yet pay himself a full salary for his work and, as the sole founder without investors, still has to make up for the loss so far.

Der Beitrag As expected – Our MRR stagnates: Open Startup Report May 2025 erschien zuerst auf Friendly.