Our software revenue increased and the number of customers reached record levels for the fourth month in a row, but we fell just short of “profitability”*: Welcome to our Open Startup Report for October 2023.
Contents
October at Friendly in numbers
- 🤖 Software revenue: 16 864 CHF (+2%)
- 🧠 Consulting revenue: 6 035 CHF (-64%)
- 💰 Total revenue: 22 899 CHF (-31%)
- 💸 Costs: 23 595 CHF (-10%)
- 🧾 Profit and loss: -696 CHF (-110%)
- 👩 Active customers: 115 (+5%)
- 💔 Churn rate (lost customers): 3% (+45%)
- 👋 New trials: 17 (+31%)
- 🔎 Website visits: 4 367 (-5%)
This is what moved us in October:
Revenues: Software revenue and customer figures on an upward trend for months, consulting revenue on a rollercoaster ride
Our monthly recurring revenue (MRR) from software subscriptions increased by +2% to CHF 16 864. This is once again the highest software revenue in our history and the fourth consecutive month of revenue growth.
It is particularly encouraging that the number of our customers has also been rising reliably for many months. With an increase of +5%, it also reached a record level for the fourth month in a row and now stands at 115.
In addition to the increasing quality and visibility of our offering, we also attribute this development to the introduction of the new Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection, which is prompting companies to look for Swiss software alternatives.
Our consulting turnover continues to be a rollercoaster ride. After the best result by far in September, Consulting sales plummeted by -64% to CHF 6 035.
The largest consulting projects were marketing automation consulting for a Swiss insurance company and analytics consulting for a Swiss social security institution and a Swiss luxury hotel.
Our income therefore amounted to CHF 22 899 in October. Overall, the increase in sales and customer numbers and the fall in consulting resulted in a decline of -31% compared to the previous month.
Expenses: reduced due to savings on freelancers and marketing
Our costs fell by -10% to CHF 23 595 in October. This was due to savings on freelancers and in marketing.
As we had fewer consulting projects than in the previous month, we were able to cover more with our employees and had to purchase fewer services from freelancers.
We also reduced our advertising expenditure and had lower costs for participating in events.
However, there was an increase in salary costs. We increased Kathrin’s salary to bring it in line with Lukas’ salary, which had also recently increased.
Here are all our costs including salaries for October 2023 in detail:
Conclusion
Despite the significant decline in consulting revenue, we only posted a small loss of CHF -696 in October.
My goal was to pay myself at least a small salary by the end of this year. We will probably miss this target.
Nevertheless, after years of high losses, we have managed to get “into the black”* in a reasonably stable manner. Over the whole of 2023, we have so far posted a “profit”* of CHF 6 748.
I am confident that we will be able to maintain and build on this positive trend.
* “Profit”, “profitability” and “into 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.
Friendly in your inbox? Sign up for our newsletter.
