Friendly is a small Swiss company with a big goal: to make marketing software more friendly.
We believe that privacy is a competitive advantage, work only with open source and donate one percent of our revenue to charity:
Our story
The history of Friendly began in early 2020 with the goal of offering a privacy-friendly alternative to the marketing tools of Google, Meta & Co. This has grown into a company with seven employees and over 160 customers:
Our team
Stefan Vetter
Stefan Vetter is the founder and CEO at Friendly. He is also the founder at Wortspiel, one of Switzerland's leading digital marketing agencies. His motto: "We have an exist strategy, not an exit strategy". Stefan likes traveling, U2 and ice baths.
József Keller
József "Joey" Keller is CTO and employee #1 at Friendly. He is an Assistant Team Lead on the product team of the open source software Mautic, on which Friendly Automate is based. Prior to Friendly, Joey worked for a US media company, the largest social network in Hungary and the national airline of Hungary.
Kathrin Schmid, PhD
Kathrin Schmid, PhD, is CMO and CISO at Friendly. As Chief Marketing Officer, she builds public trust in Friendly. At the same time, as Chief Information Security Officer, she is responsible for the security of our customers’ data. For her, both activities are compatible, as we see data protection as a competitive advantage. In her free time, Kathrin enjoys immersing herself in complex board games or implementing creative craft projects.
Lukas Sigel
Lukas Sigel is COO and CCO at Friendly. As COO, he makes sure that the team works well together and coordinates important tasks and processes so that Friendly can grow sustainably. As CCO, he does everything in his power to make our customers successful with our software. The computer science graduate has been working in IT for over 10 years and completed a CAS as a frontend developer while working. In his spare time, Luke loves to travel, is always open to new culinary and cultural discoveries and occasionally enjoys taking the helm as ship’s captain.
Lukas Frei
Lukas Frei is Customer Happiness Manager at Friendly. He is dedicated to providing caring customer support, supporting customer projects and assisting new customers with onboarding so that they can get off to a successful start with our software. In addition to his work at Friendly, Lukas designs digital teaching materials and learning platforms at LerNetz and runs his own small web agency. The former sports and English teacher discovered his passion for IT during his second university degree. In his free time, Lukas remains true to his sporting background – whether on a racing bike, playing handball or cross-country skiing.
Peter Boehlke
Peter Boehlke is freelance Analytics Consultant at Friendly. For over 10 years, he has been a contributor to the open source software Matomo, which is the foundation of Friendly Analytics. Peter has consulted with clients in over 30 countries on privacy-friendly web analytics.
Matic Zagmajster
Matic Zagmajster is developer at Friendly. He discovered his passion for programming as early as elementary school. He then honed his skills at the Electrotechnical Computer Vocational School in Slovenia's capital Ljubljana. In his free time, Matic likes to relax with a quiet evening walk.
Certifications
We place high demands on the security and quality of our software and on data protection. We have these standards regularly checked and certified by independent third parties.
ISO 27 001: Acclaimed information security
Our information security is certified in accordance with ISO 27 001. We rely on an Information Security Management System (ISMS) to continuously improve our infrastructure and processes. This enables us to protect data against loss, theft or changes in the best possible way.
ISO 9 001: Approved quality
The ISO 9 001 standard for quality management provides a system to ensure the quality of our services under all circumstances. Our certification proves that we comply with this standard.
swiss made software: Swiss origin
The “swiss made software” label stands for high-quality Swiss ICT products and is only awarded to companies that are based in Switzerland and generate most of their value added in Switzerland. Friendly is a proud bearer of this distinction.
swiss hosting: Data remains in Switzerland
The “swiss hosting” label is also awarded by swiss made software and stands for two key promises:
- The data remains in Switzerland.
- The data can only be accessed by third parties via the Swiss authorities.
We are fulfilling these promises with our hosting in Switzerland with providers headquartered in Switzerland since day 1 and are pleased that we can now communicate this with this label.
Investors (not)
We get asked time and again why we don’t want investors at Friendly as a tech startup. It’s not that we haven’t received any offers yet. But we have turned them all down and will continue to do so in the future. For good reasons:
Open Startup
Everyone says they are transparent. We are. As Switzerland’s first and only Open Startup, we share everything unless there is a reason not to publish it. This includes revenues, costs including salaries, website visits and even our employment contracts:
Memberships
Together we achieve more. That is why we engage in various industry associations:
Swico – The trade association for digital Switzerland
Swico is the Swiss trade association of the ICT and online industry. Its more than 700 members employ 56 000 people and generate annual revenues of 40 billion CHF. We are one of these members.
CH Open – for open source and open standards
CH Open is committed to promoting open standards and open source software in Switzerland. With our collective membership, we support this initiative and the implementation of its objectives.
Digitale Gesellschaft
Digitale Gesellschaft campaigns for data protection and fundamental rights in our digitally interconnected world in Switzerland. We support their important work with a patron membership.
eCH: E-Government Standards
The non-profit association eCH promotes, develops and adopts standards in the field of eGovernment for efficient electronic collaboration between the public sector, companies and individuals. Friendly contributes to eCH as a corporate member.
HANDELSVERBAND.swiss
HANDELSVERBAND.swiss (The Swiss Retail Association) unites over 400 retailers. With over 460 online stores and 2 850 points of sale, its members generate around 21 billion CHF in revenue each year. Friendly is a service provider partner of HANDELSVERBAND.swiss.
Inspiration
These books have had an influence on us and our work:
Thanks
In addition to all of our supporters, our thanks go especially to the open source projects and their contributors that have made and continue to make Friendly possible:
