March at Friendly in Numbers

• Software revenue: 18 768 CHF (+2%)
• Consulting revenue: 10 727 CHF (+14%)
• Total revenue: 29 495 CHF (+6%)
• Costs: 25 728 CHF (+3%)
• Profit and loss: 3 767 CHF (+31%)
• Active customers: 126 (+2%)
• Churn rate (lost customers): 1.6% (-34%)
• New trials: 8 (-50%)
• Website visits: 3 206 (-13%)

These were the key developments in March:

Revenues: Software sales rise slowly, consulting on an upward trend

Our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from software subscriptions rose by 2% or around CHF 300 to CHF 18 768 in March. This is the ninth consecutive month of reliable growth in software sales.

Consulting turnover continues on an upward trend. At CHF 10 727, we exceeded the CHF 10 000 threshold for the fourth time, following successful consulting months in June, September and November 2023. Compared to the previous month, we achieved a 14% increase in consulting turnover.

This is systematic: we are investing more in consulting, as we are active in the B2B sector with our software and are increasingly reaching larger customers who need customized software solutions.

Thanks to the technical and professional expertise of our CCO Lukas Sigel and CTO Joey Keller (Friendly Automate) and our “permanent freelancer” Peter Boehlke (Friendly Analytics), we can offer these customers personal support and individual solutions.

Our customers request our team to be available for these important services and appreciate the fact that we have reliable contacts on site.

Meanwhile, the number of our active customers rose by +2% to 126, while the churn rate fell to a good 1.6%.

Thanks to the very good result in consulting, our total turnover rose by +6% to CHF 29 495 in March.

This result puts us 48% above the total turnover in the same month last year (March 2023).

Costs: Slight increase in salary costs due to salary increase and exchange rate fluctuations

Our salary costs rose by around CHF 600 in March. This was partly due to exchange rate fluctuations: We pay Joey’s salary in euros. In Swiss francs, his salary cost us around CHF 100 more this month than in February.

At the same time, Lukas was able to increase his workload at Friendly from 35% to a (permanent) 40%. This is a long-term gain for us. Lukas supports our most important customers in a friendly and professional manner. Examples of this are Branchen Versicherung and the pharmaceutical company Pierre Fabre, with whom we recently published two case studies.

Our advertising costs fell slightly in March in line with normal fluctuations, while most other cost factors remained constant.

There was a one-off cost for Stefan’s participation in a marketing event, at which he developed his knowledge and made new contacts.

Here are all our costs including salaries for March 2024 in detail:

Founded writes about Friendly

The Founded magazine reports on the startup ecosystem in Switzerland. They recently published an article about Friendly (in german language). It discusses our beginnings, our goals and what is important to us.

Founded calls Friendly “exemplary for a new generation of software companies that not only drive technological innovation, but also take social responsibility seriously and lead the way”.

Conclusion

The result in March: we achieved a “profit”* of CHF 3 767, an increase of another 31% compared to the good previous month of February.

This is the first time in our history that we have achieved two very good results in succession. And all the signs indicate that the upward trend will continue in the coming months.

* “Profit” is deliberately put in quotation marks because Stefan has not yet paid himself a salary for his work at Friendly and, as a sole founder without investors, he has yet to make up for the loss so far.

Der Beitrag We’re getting the wind in our sails: Open Startup Report March 2024 erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

The implementation of Friendly Automate has taken Pierre Fabre a decisive step forward in its digital transformation. In event management alone, Pierre Fabre is now able to save a five-figure sum every year and thus use its existing resources more efficiently.

Astrid Giebel, Head of Product Management DACH, says about our collaboration:

“We are proud of what we have achieved with Friendly Automate. I am particularly pleased with the increased number of participants at congresses and events thanks to the simplified digital registration option and the high response to our newsletter. Our customers, mostly doctors, are satisfied and so are we.”

Read the case study here.

Der Beitrag Pierre Fabre: More participants at events and five-figure savings thanks to Friendly Automate erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

February at Friendly in Numbers

• Software revenue: 18 428 CHF (+1%)
• Consulting revenue: 9 453 CHF (+14%)
• Total revenue: 27 881 CHF (+5%)
• Costs: 25 007 CHF (-9%)
• Profit and loss: 2 874 CHF (-431%)
• Active customers: 123 (+1%)
• Churn rate (lost customers): 2.4% (+195%)
• New trials: 16 (+14%)
• Website visits: 3 691 (-13%)

These were the key developments in February:

Revenues: Software sales and consulting sales increase

The positive trend of recent months continued in February. Our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from software subscriptions rose slightly by 1% to CHF 18 428.

Our consulting turnover also grew by +14% to CHF 9 453. This puts us slightly above the average for the last 6 months. The largest projects in February were assignments for a pharmaceutical company, a hotel group, a construction machinery dealer and an insurance company.

We acquired four new customers and currently have 123 active customers. Our churn rate was within normal range at 2.46%.

As a result, our total revenue in February rose by 5% to CHF 27 881. We are very satisfied with this month’s outcome.

Costs: Lower than in the previous month, slight overall increase due to salary increase and sponsoring

Compared to the previous month, our costs fell by -9% to CHF 25 007 in February.

In January, however, we had an outlier on the cost side due to a miscalculation. If we compare the February costs with December, we see an increase of +7%.

This increase is primarily the result of a pay rise that we were able to make possible for our CTO Joey Keller. We increased his salary from EUR 5 500 to EUR 6 000 per month.

Even with this pay rise, Joey’s salary is still lower than that of Kathrin and Lukas, adjusted for working hours. As Joey works from Hungary, this difference is acceptable to us. In the long term, however, we plan to bring all salaries in line with Swiss pay levels.

Another moderate increase in costs is due to higher sponsorship for Mautic, the open source project on which Friendly Automate is based. Previously, we supported the further development of Mautic with USD 130 per month. From February, we are increasing this amount to USD 220.

Here are all our costs including salaries for February 2024 in detail:

Conclusion

Our revenue increased more strongly than costs again this month, and we therefore posted a profit of CHF 2 874 in February.

Even if this figure still looks modest, this is the third-best result in our company’s history, after the successful months of September and November 2023.

Having been largely “in the black”* over the last 6 months, we are very confident about the coming months.

* “In the black” is deliberately put in quotation marks because Stefan has not yet paid himself a salary for his work at Friendly and, as a sole founder without investors, he has yet to make up for the loss so far.

Der Beitrag Things are going well for us again: Open Startup Report February 2024 erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

The ISO 9 001 standard is internationally recognized and the most widely used standard in the field of quality management. It defines the criteria for a quality management system. Its focus is on the efficiency of processes, increasing customer satisfaction, maintaining relationships and continuous improvement.

The certification confirms our efforts to date and provides a guideline for future developments so that we can maintain a stable and healthy company in the long term.

We would like to thank our customers who have placed their trust in us along the way and are certain that our certification will continue to build trust.

What is the added value of ISO 9 001?

ISO certification offers us and our customers several advantages:

1. Quality and reliability: Our customers can trust that, as a certified company, we consistently deliver high-quality products and services.
2. Risk reduction: ISO 9 001 helps our company to identify and manage potential risks in our operating processes. For our customers, this means a higher likelihood that our services will be delivered as expected and that interruptions or problems will be minimized.
3. Commitment to continuous improvement: We are committed to actively improving our services and processes on an ongoing basis. Our customers can be confident that they are working with a successful company for the long term.

In summary, ISO 9 001 certification is a strong signal of our company’s quality, reliability and customer-focused commitment.

What is the ISO 9 001 standard?

The ISO 9 001 norm sets standards in quality management. It places the following priorities:

• Customer orientation: The central focus of quality management is to manage the company in a customer-oriented way. This is because a company can only be successful if it meets or even exceeds the expectations of existing and future customers.
• Exemplary leadership: Managers must lead the company in such a way that employees understand the company’s goals and are willing to accept, support and implement them.
• Employee commitment: The counterpart to exemplary leadership is committed and competent employees. A good team culture, mutual understanding and recognition of achievements are crucial for this.
• External relationship management: The involvement of interested parties (stakeholders) creates synergies through joint developments, mutual coordination, knowledge transfer and optimized supply chains.
• Fact-based decision-making: Decisions should be based on measurable criteria. In conjunction with their experience and intuition, decision-makers must have knowledge of measurable data, causes, effects, risks and key figures and be able to analyze and weigh these competently.
• Process-oriented approach: Processes determine the functioning of day-to-day business, and the efficient planning, coordination and improvement of internal processes play a key role in ensuring predictable quality and efficiency.
• Continuous improvement: The quality management system is designed to continuously and systematically optimize processes, services and products and to minimize risks and weaknesses on an ongoing basis.

Like the ISO 27 001 standard, ISO 9 001 follows a risk-based and goal-oriented approach: improvements should be consistently implemented where actual and urgent risks exist or where current and significant goals can be achieved.

What does certification for ISO 9 001 cost?

The financial outlay for ISO 9 001 certification can vary greatly depending on the size, complexity and structure of a company.

In our Open Startup Report for December, we already briefly announced the costs for our initial certification: CHF 20 820 (including certification for ISO 27 001).

This does not yet include the personnel costs that we have expended for the preparation of the certification and that we will continue to need for the continuous implementation of the required standards.

We will be reporting on this in more detail shortly.

PS: Find an overview of our certifications and awards here.

Der Beitrag Approved quality: Friendly receives ISO 9 001 certification erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

January at Friendly in Numbers

• Software revenue: 18 212 CHF (+1%)
• Consulting revenue: 8 275 CHF (+47%)
• Total revenue: 26 487 CHF (+12%)
• Costs: 27 354 CHF (+17%)
• Profit and loss: -867 CHF (-370%)
• Active customers: 122 (+2%)
• Churn rate (lost customers): 0.8% (-50%)
• New trials: 14 (+27%)
• Website visits: 4 229 (+12%)

These were the key developments in January:

Revenues: Slow growth in software sales, good result in consulting

Our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from software subscriptions rose by just CHF 190 to CHF 18 212 in January, an increase of 1% on the previous month.

As our software subscriptions form the basis for consulting, they are the decisive growth factor for our company. The figures for the last few months show: We are growing slowly – but steadily.

And that is okay. Our company is growing healthily, we are continuously improving our quality and we are providing everyone in the team with a solid foothold in life. Not only financially, but also through a balanced working environment in which we do well in the long term.

Our customer numbers are also currently very stable. In January, we lost one customer and gained two new ones, so we currently have 122 customers.

This month, consulting turnover rose by a full 47% to CHF 8 275. The largest projects were assignments for an insurance company, a construction machinery dealer, a bank and a non-profit organization. We assisted with the design of newsletters, set up enterprise instances and provided employee training.

Our total revenue in January was a good CHF 26 487, an increase of 12% compared to December.

Costs: Costs explode due to freelancers and high advertising expenses

By contrast, our costs rose massively in January: from CHF 23 338 in the previous month to CHF 27 354.

The main reason for this was a consulting project that we covered with a freelancer. This project resulted in unforeseeable expenses that we were unable to charge directly to the customer and therefore had to bear ourselves.

I see these one-off costs as an investment in the customer relationship with an important customer. And as a lesson learned. I miscalculated and evaluated the mistake so as not to repeat it.

In addition, our advertising costs in search engine advertising also increased. This increase was directly caused by higher demand for our products on Google and Bing, and I am therefore very pleased with it.

Here are all our costs including salaries for January 2024 in detail:

Open Startup: Does it make sense?

We don’t just run from one success to the next. We grow slowly and make mistakes. And we also share these things in our Open Startup Reports. We are regularly asked if this is “necessary”.

I recently shared my motivation on indiehackers.com:

Marketing and visibility
“We benefit by getting attention. Our monthly open startup reports do very well on LinkedIn because being open is still novel in Switzerland, our home market. We are still the first and only “open startup” in Switzerland.”

Trust
“It creates trust because people see that their fees actually are invested into the product; not into the CEO’s Lamborghini.”

Feedback
“We often get valuable feedback. For example, people questioned our hosting costs and pointed us to better options.”

To summarize – we’ve had positive experiences with it. Others see it differently. Read more in the article on indiehackers.com.

Conclusion

The result of the good revenue figures and the high one-off costs on the other side: the new year starts with a narrow loss of CHF -867.

This is uncomfortable after we had already reached the “black figures”* quite reliably last year.

But it’s also manageable because we understand why it happened.

I expect that we will be able to sustainably consolidate our financial situation this year.

* “Black figures” is deliberately put in quotation marks because I have not yet paid myself a salary for my work and, as a sole founder without investors, I have yet to make up for the loss so far.

Der Beitrag We make a mistake and experience a setback: Open Startup Report January 2024 erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

We recently successfully passed the initial certification according to ISO 27 001 : 2022. The certification covers our entire company and therefore applies to all our products.

What is the added value of ISO 27 001?

Our ISO certification offers several advantages for us and our customers:

1. Increased security: We have introduced an information security management system (ISMS) that meets international standards. This ensures that we have a functional, robust, evolving system to protect data.
2. Compliance: Our ISO 27 001 certification provides our customers with proof that we know and implement the applicable legal regulations regarding IT security and data protection. This also supports them in complying with their legal obligations.
3. Reputation and trust: Being certified shows that we are committed to information security. And that also builds trust for our customers’ customers.
4. Sustainable improvement: The ISO 27 001 standard requires continuous monitoring and regular review of the ISMS to ensure that we remain at the cutting edge of security requirements and technologies in the future.

Our software is already being used more and more by companies who highly prioritize information security, such as insurance companies, banks and public institutions.

Last year, we were already awarded the “swiss made software” and “swiss hosting” labels, which recognize Swiss quality and data protection. The ISO 27 001 certification reinforces this promise.

What is the ISO 27 001 standard?

The ISO 27 001 standard takes a risk-based and goal-oriented approach: improvements are consistently implemented where actual and urgent risks exist or where current and significant goals can be achieved.

This ensures that the available resources can be used to deliver the most effective results.

The standard requires the introduction of an information security management system (ISMS) that addresses measures in the following areas:

• Compliance with applicable laws and regulations, for us in particular the Swiss nFADP and the European GDPR
• Security in using software and hardware, code reviews, regular updates, patches and backups
• Regular external penetration tests to uncover vulnerabilities and close security gaps before hackers can exploit them
• Internal guidelines and policies for information security, continuous training for all employees and consulting for our customers
• Clear management of information security incidents with ongoing evaluation and improvement
• Classification of information and assets according to confidentiality levels (asset management) and identification of appropriate protective measures
• Protection of infrastructure against intruders, fires, water damage and power outages
• Protection against unauthorized access to data through access rights and access controls, need-to-know principle and continuous monitoring of networks and systems
• Use of encryption for the transmission of sensitive information, guidelines for the secure use of communication channels
• Security in supplier and service relationships through audits, contracts and regular reviews of suppliers
• Developing and continuously updating plans for system maintenance or recovery in emergencies and crises (business continuity management)

The management system thus enables a continuous improvement process in all areas of information security.

What does certification for ISO 27 001 cost?

The financial outlay for ISO 27 001 certification can vary greatly depending on the size, complexity and structure of a company.

In our Open Startup Report for December, we already briefly announced the costs for our initial certification: CHF 20 820 (including certification for ISO 9 001).

This does not yet include the personnel costs that we have expended for the preparation of the certification and that we will continue to need for the continuous implementation of the required standards.

We will be reporting on this in more detail shortly.

PS: Find an overview of our certifications and awards here.

Der Beitrag Acclaimed information security: Friendly receives ISO certification 27 001 erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

We reach the black figures

2023 is the year in which we reached the “black figures” with Friendly. Although total revenue increased reliably in the first few financial years, so too did costs. It was not until 2023 that we succeeded in significantly increasing total revenue with only slight cost increases.

In 2023, our annual recurring revenue (ARR) from software subscriptions was CHF 188 691, while consulting revenue amounted to CHF 90 313. This brought our total revenue to CHF 279 004, an increase of 60% compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, our costs rose by only 29% to CHF 266 038. After the previous annual losses, we thus achieved a small profit of CHF 12 966 at the end of the year for the first time.

The balance for the entire business time still shows a loss of CHF 59 554, which Stefan, as the sole founder without investors, paid out of his own pocket and which the company still has to make up.

And we missed our repeatedly communicated target of being able to pay Stefan a salary within 2023.

That is why we continue to write “black figures” in quotation marks. But we have come one step closer to real profitability.

Open Startup – what’s the point? Stefan shares his motivations on indiehackers.com.

We establish consulting as a key business area

After initially maintaining our strategy of generating most of our revenue through software subscriptions, we started offering consulting as a service in March 2022.

At first, our monthly consulting turnover was only just in the four-digit range, but since shortly before the turn of 2022/23, we have been achieving a significant turnover.

In 2023, consulting has established itself as one of our core business areas. To be sure, in the Open Startup Reports we have repeatedly described the rollercoaster ride that our consulting turnover represents month after month.

However, a quarterly comparison and the annual overview show that we can count on solid consulting income.

Over the whole of 2023, we earned an average of CHF 7 526 per month through consulting, or a total of CHF 90 313, which accounts for 32% of our annual turnover.

We support innovative projects

Our customers implemented some impressive projects with Friendly Automate and Friendly Analytics in 2023, some of which we would like to highlight:

• Knies Kinderzoo and Knies Zauberhut simplified their marketing activities and event management with Friendly Automate (see the case study here).
• For the Swiss branch of the French pharmaceutical company Pierre Fabre, we used Friendly Automate to develop individual applications such as a sales portal, an intranet and an event management platform (case study to follow shortly).
• A Swiss bank integrated Friendly Analytics into its e-banking system.
• Bofrost Switzerland, the Bürgenstock Collection, wemakeit, Switch and other companies and organizations implemented high-quality tracking projects with Friendly Analytics.

We strengthen our position in data protection

Since our company was founded in 2020, we have been focusing on data protection and information security with Friendly.

In 2023, we were able to significantly strengthen our position in data protection even further, as the introduction of the revised Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection in September 2023 sensitized many Swiss companies and institutions to the issue.

We set high data protection standards for our software, are visible with a detailed blog post and at events (link in german language) and now also offer data protection training courses on request.

Read more: The new Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection will be introduced on September 1: The comprehensive guide (+ checklists and templates)

We obtain important industry certifications

With “swiss made software” and “swiss hosting”, we received our first official labels last year. These labels confirm that we are a Swiss company that generates most of its added value in Switzerland and that the data we host remains entirely in Switzerland.

Then shortly before the end of 2023, we successfully passed the initial certification for ISO standards 27 001 & 9 001.

Both standards are recognized worldwide and are among the leading standards in their respective fields. ISO 27 001 certifies that we have implemented an information security management system (ISMS) and ISO 9 001 that we have introduced a quality management system (QMS).

We are proud of these awards and are certain that they will strengthen our value proposition and our customers’ trust in us.

We build our team culture

At Friendly, we place a high value on team culture. This includes mutual appreciation, which we would like to express to all our team members for their achievements in 2023.

József “Joey” Keller, our CTO and first employee of Friendly, continued to work with great dedication in 2023 to maintain and further develop our infrastructure, and competently answered numerous support requests for Friendly Automate with his technical knowledge.

At the same time, Joey continued to be a key member of the Mautic open source team in 2023, on which our Friendly Automate software is based. He was the third most active individual member of the Mautic community and even brought Friendly to the 2nd place of the most active companies. We are proud to have Joey on our team.

Most active members at Mautic 2023	Contributions
1   Ruth Cheesley	5390
2   Jan Linhart	1700
3    Joey Keller	1505
4   Mohammed Abu Musa	1358
5   Matthias Michaux	995

Most active companies at Mautic 2023	Contributions
1   Acquia	1926
2    Friendly	1511
3   Dropsolid	1425
4   Steer Campaign	1359
5   Leuchtfeuer	1064

Lukas Sigel, our CCO, has managed demanding customer projects in 2023 and thus significantly developed and expanded the consulting sector at Friendly.

Our customers appreciate Luke’s professional approach, his accessibility, the creative design of templates for Friendly Automate and his innovative solution finding. Luke’s contribution is extremely valuable to Friendly.

Peter Boehlke, our independent analytics consultant, worked numerous freelance hours for us again in 2023 and advised our customers on Friendly Analytics. Peter is part of the core team at Matomo, the open source software behind Friendly Analytics, and his expertise is a great asset to us and our customers.

Matic Zagmajster has been supporting us as a developer with a small part-time job since August 2023. Thanks to Matic, we have already been able to improve the important link between Friendly Automate and the Microsoft Dynamics CRM and fix several software bugs.

Dr. Kathrin Schmid, our CMO & CISO, has expanded the marketing and data protection area at Friendly over the past year.

With her contributions on our website and at events, she increases our visibility in the public eye, and her achievements for ISO certification and data protection strengthen public trust in us. Both are very important to Friendly.

Stefan Vetter, our founder and CEO, has continued to shape Friendly in 2023 with his forward-thinking management style.

His focus on team culture, appreciative working conditions, personal responsibility, sustainability and friendliness creates a company that the team is very happy to work for.

We are focused on a sustainable future

Like the reflections on the company’s two-year and three-year anniversaries, we conclude this review with a reminder of the future:

We don’t see the journey with Friendly as a sprint, but as a marathon. We have an exist strategy, not an exit strategy. We’ll see whether we’re successful after 10 years. Not before. And we very much want to go down this path. If possible, for much longer than 10 years.

Der Beitrag Our year in numbers and events: Open Startup Annual Review 2023 erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

December at Friendly in Numbers

• Software revenue: 18 022 CHF (+2%)
• Consulting revenue: 5 638 CHF (-50%)
• Total revenue: 23 659 CHF (-19%)
• Costs: 23 338 CHF (+1%)
• Profit and loss: +321 CHF (-94%)
• Active customers: 120 (-)
• Churn rate (lost customers): 1.7% (-62%)
• New trials: 11 (+10%)
• Website visits: 3 763 (-4%)

These were the key developments in December:

Revenues: Sixth consecutive month of growth in software revenue, total revenue drops due to consulting

Our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from software subscriptions rose reliably for the sixth month in a row with a small increase of 2% to CHF 18 022 in December.

This not only continues the positive trend of recent months, but also of the past few years: In our almost 4-year company history, the MRR has only failed to rise in 7 out of a total of 47 months.

Admittedly, all monthly increases were within a modest range of just a few hundred francs. Even though we would like to see slightly faster growth, we recognize the stability that we achieve through slow growth with small and medium-sized customers.

On the one hand, this allows us to avoid cluster risk and, on the other, gives us enough time to keep pace with the changes in our company.

However, our consulting revenue is constantly keeping us on our toes: In December, the zigzag course once again moved downwards and, at CHF 5 638, was a full -50% below the previous month’s revenue, and even in a one-year comparison for 2023, still -25% below the monthly average. (More on this in our Open Startup Annual Review, coming soon).

At the same time, the number of our active customers stagnated at 120 for the first time after a 6-month increase. As we also recorded a very low churn rate of 1.67%, we are still just about satisfied with this result.

Overall, our total revenue fell by -19% or more than CHF 5 000 to just CHF 23 659 this month.

Costs: Personnel costs stable, cost increase due to initial ISO certification

On the expenses side, most cost factors remained constant: marketing and administration costs hardly changed and wage costs also remained largely at the previous month’s level. However, our freelancers worked slightly more hours.

The ISO certification for the 9 001 & 27 001 standards has a noticeable impact. In addition to the preparation costs, there are now also the costs for the initial certification.

We amortize both items over 12 months each, so we pay CHF 1 735 per month for this investment in the future, or CHF 20 820 in total. This is a considerable sum for our small start-up, but we are confident that we have taken the right course with the certification.

Together with the low expenditure in the area of training & events, there was nevertheless only a slight increase in costs of +1% to CHF 23 338 this month.

Here are all our costs including wages for December 2023 in detail:

Which tool is this actually?

One of the most frequent questions we receive about our Open Startup Report is which tool we use to create our cost table. In the spirit of our Open Startup philosophy, we are of course happy to share this with you too.

We are using Soulver. It’s a text editor that can do calculations. Soulver integrates simple spreadsheet functions into its clean notebook interface and is much slimmer than an Excel spreadsheet. The tool is available for a (one-time) fee and only works on Mac.

Conclusion

At the end of the year, we achieved a narrow “plus”* of CHF 321 in December, a profit that is over CHF 5,000 lower than in November. Despite steadily rising software sales and stable costs, this was once again due to the fluctuations in consulting.

As a sole founder without investors, I have not yet been able to pay myself a salary for my work at Friendly. I mentioned several times in my Open Startup reports that I wanted to change this within 2023. We have missed this target in the past year.

Despite this, the last month of the year saw a (small) “black figure”* and, for the first time, we recorded a five-digit “profit”* for the year as a whole.

In all likelihood, 2024 will therefore be the year in which we will be able to build up financial reserves at Friendly for the first time.

* “Profit”, “plus” and “black figure” are deliberately put in quotation marks because I have not yet paid myself a salary for my work and I have yet to make up for the loss so far.

Der Beitrag As the year ends, we only just reach our target: Open Startup Report December 2023 erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

November at Friendly in numbers

• Software revenue: 17 726 CHF (+5%)
• Consulting revenue: 11 310 CHF (+87%)
• Total revenue: 29 036 CHF (+27%)
• Costs: 23 139 CHF (-2%)
• Profit and loss: +5 897 CHF (-947%)
• Active customers: 120 (+4%)
• Churn rate (lost customers): 4.3% (+59%)
• New trials: 10 (-41%)
• Website visits: 3 934 (-10%)

These were the key developments in November:

Revenues: Record software revenue for five months in a row, new record for new and active customers

Our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from software subscriptions continues to rise slowly but reliably. We have now recorded revenue growth for the fifth month in a row, with an increase of 5% to CHF 17 726 in November. This means that we have now set a new record for our most important KPI for the fifth month in a row.

In November, we also achieved a small record with new customers: we were able to conclude 10 new software subscriptions. Among our existing customers, however, we recorded a slightly higher churn rate of 4.3% with 5 terminations compared to an average of around 2% in the previous months. Overall, our customer base has thus increased by 5 to 120 customers. This is also a record.

In Consulting, the rollercoaster continued – this time upwards again. At CHF 11 310, we recorded the second-highest consulting turnover in our company’s history; the only time this turnover was higher was in September 2023. We advised more than 15 clients, including customers from the financial sector, insurance and trade unions.

Despite the major fluctuations in consulting, we were able to count on an income of around CHF 7 000 per month on average last year. In absolute terms, the figure has never been below CHF 4 000 in the last 12 months, so we can also rely on this income with some certainty.

As a result, we also recorded the second-highest figure in our history for total revenue at CHF 29 036, having already reached a one-time figure of CHF 33 215 in September. Compared to the previous month, our revenue rose by an impressive +27%. Looking back a year, our total revenue has almost doubled compared to the same month last year: in November 2022, it was still at CHF 15 625 and has increased relatively steadily since then.

Costs: Wage cuts finally lifted, costs still down slightly due to further savings on freelancers

A year ago, our balance sheet did not look good: Our MRR was declining and we were only reaching a few new customers. As a self-financed start-up, we were forced to cut our costs. The result was self-imposed wage cuts.

We are proud that these measures and constant hard work have enabled us to overcome the crisis by our own efforts and that we have now been able to fully reverse the wage cuts. Lastly, we raised Joey’s salary by EUR 500 back to the original EUR 5 500.

This increase in costs was offset by further savings on freelancers, meaning that our costs fell by a total of -2% to CHF 23 139 last month.

Here are all our costs including wages for November 2023 in detail:

Is this all going too slowly?

One criticism we received in response to our last Open Startup Report was that Friendly should finally be profitable. According to them, there was not enough healthy pressure to drive us forward.

This is true. We have less pressure than some others.

I still earn my income from my second company Wortspiel. This means I can afford to work for Friendly for free.

If this were not the case, we would indeed have to invest more in short-term successes such as outbound sales.

However, this does not mean that we are not “putting our foot down” and working less hard.

On the contrary, we can afford to invest in things that will take us forward in the long term:

• Building our brand
• Enhancing safety and quality with certifications in ISO 27 001 and ISO 9 001 (to be completed shortly)
• Strengthening our team culture

This does not bring high short-term profits, but I am convinced that it will pay off and is currently the right use of our resources. And I am glad to have this freedom.

Conclusion

Thanks to strong revenue in Software and Consulting and stable costs, we achieved a “plus”* of CHF +5 897 in November.

This is the second-highest “profit”* in our history. The only time we did better was two months ago in September 2023.

Looking back on the current year, we are very satisfied with what we have achieved. Overall, we were in the black* in 5 out of 11 months in 2023.

This is a clearly positive trend, after we only just managed one “profitable”* month each in 2021 and 2022. Over the whole of 2023 so far, we have even achieved a “plus” of CHF 12 645.

I am particularly pleased that we were also able to completely reverse last year’s pay cuts in November.

In addition to a salary for me, my main goal for 2024 is to build up financial reserves at Friendly.

* “Profit”, “plus” and “in the black” are deliberately put in quotation marks because I have not yet paid myself a salary for my work and, as a sole founder without investors, I have yet to make up for the loss so far.

Der Beitrag The second best month in our history: Open Startup Report November 2023 erschien zuerst auf Friendly.

Back then, there were still dolphins in the children’s zoo and birthday children were allowed to ride in a boat pulled by the dolphins.

This moment is one of my favourite childhood memories.

So I’m all the more pleased that more than 38 years later, Knies Kinderzoo is one of Friendly’s customers.

Today there are no more dolphins at the children’s zoo. The pool in the photo has been replaced by the innovative event location “Knies Zauberhut”.

For over a year, we have been supporting Knies Kinderzoo, Knies Zauberhut and the associated restaurant Himmapan in simplifying their marketing activities with Friendly Automate.

Many thanks to Annett Sprenger and Roberto Scheuer for the good cooperation so far and to Lukas Sigel from our team for his strong commitment.

Read more here in our first case study:

Kinderzoo, Zauberhut and restaurant under one roof: The traditional Swiss circus company Knie simplifies their marketing activities with Friendly Automate

Der Beitrag Knies Kinderzoo × Friendly: our first case study erschien zuerst auf Friendly.