The business decision we made last month is not without consequences: We record zero growth in software sales. Welcome to our Open Startup Report for May 2025.
Contents
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.
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