# Ampersand

> A small, senior-led Zurich engineering studio. Since 2019 we've helped founders, owners and teams turn ideas into real software -- and looked after the products already in their customers' hands.

## Studio at a glance

- Type: Independent software studio, senior-led
- Founded: 2019, Zurich, Switzerland
- Headquarters: Ampersand Labs, Fluelastrasse 10, 8048 Zurich, Switzerland
- Network: Senior collaborators across seven European cities, pulled in per project
- Founder & principal engineer: Davide Morotti -- shipping software since 2009; previously CTO at Habitects AG and Head of Software Development at eyeonX AG
- Site: https://ampersand.ch
- Contact email: hello@ampersand.ch
- Free 10-min intro call: https://calendar.app.google/ACr27AHZyBmPLuS69
- Founder LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmorotti
- Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ampsand
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ampersand.ch

## How we work

- Every project is led by a senior engineer with at least ten years of real-world experience
- No account managers, no marketplace strangers -- the senior who picks up your first call owns delivery
- Honest weekly written updates, visible plans, transparent trade-offs
- We build for year two: foundations meant to last, not demos meant to impress
- We measure success by how independent your team becomes, not by how long you keep us around
- Hourly floor: CHF 180/h for the smallest engagements; CHF 150/h on the largest volume packages

## Pages

- [Home](/en) -- Overview of the studio and what we do
- [Services](/en/services) -- Six ways we work with you: part-time tech lead, building your first product, monthly support, guidance, audits, AI masterclasses
- [Pricing](/en/pricing) -- Launch offer, packages and monthly retainer options
- [The Lab](/en/lab) -- Swiss-hosted online tools we build, run and use ourselves (page was formerly "Products")
- [About](/en/about) -- Team, principles, tech stack, locations
- [Contact](/en/contact) -- Send a message or book an intro call
- [Imprint](/en/imprint), [Privacy](/en/privacy) -- Legal

## Services

- [Rent-a-CTO](/en/services/rent-a-cto) -- Part-time senior tech lead for founders without a full-time CTO. Roadmap, hiring, investor diligence, big technical decisions. CHF 4.5k/mo (advisory, 1/2 day/week) to CHF 8k/mo (1-2 days/week) to CHF 16k/mo (3 days/week). Minimum 3 months; typical 6-12.
- [Development](/en/services/development) -- Websites, web apps, mobile apps, platforms and MVPs designed, built and launched end-to-end. From CHF 4k for a marketing site (1 week to 2 months), from CHF 20k for an MVP with auth + payments (1-6 months), from CHF 45k for a multi-tenant platform (4-12 months). Two weeks of free post-launch support.
- [Monthly Support](/en/services/monthly-support) -- Ongoing care for live software: bug fixes, security patches, infrastructure, small features. CHF 3.6k/mo for 20h (Starter), CHF 8k/mo for 50h with 4h response (Growth), CHF 15k+/mo for 100h+ with 2h response and on-call (Scale). WordPress and Laravel welcome.
- [From Idea to Product - Guidance](/en/services/from-idea-to-product-guidance) -- Weekly 1:1 guidance from idea to live product. No coding background required: we help you pick between no-code (Lovable, Bubble, Webflow) and custom code. CHF 799/mo (weekly sessions + 24h written reviews) or CHF 1,999/mo (intensive: unlimited reviews + always-on chat). Single trial session at CHF 129. Capped at four active clients at a time.
- [Consultancy & Audits](/en/services/engineering-consultancy) -- Architecture reviews, AI audits, tech due diligence, security reviews. Written reports a board can act on. From CHF 9k (architecture review, 2 wks), from CHF 10k (AI audit, 2-3 wks), from CHF 12k (tech due diligence, 3-4 wks). Mutual NDA day one.
- [AI Masterclass](/en/services/ai-masterclass) -- Half- or full-day facilitation with leadership teams. Cut through hype, pick the one AI bet worth building, leave with a 30-day plan. CHF 3.5k half-day (remote, 4h), CHF 6k full-day (on-site, 8h). Optional 2-week working-prototype add-on from CHF 12k, pairs with either masterclass.

## The Lab -- Swiss-hosted tools we build and run

- [Managed WordPress hosting](https://hosting.ampersand.ch) -- built end-to-end for serious speed
- [Social media scheduler](https://socials.ampersand.ch) -- schedule once, post everywhere
- [Encrypted secret sharing](https://secrets.ampersand.ch) -- one-time, end-to-end encrypted links for passwords and sensitive info
- [Banner production & approval](https://banners.ampersand.ch) -- design display banners and get them approved without the email chaos
- [Free everyday tools](https://tools.ampersand.ch) -- email signatures, business cards, link-in-bio pages, NDAs, briefs and more

## Tech stack

- Frontend: TypeScript, React, Next.js, TanStack, Vue.js, Nuxt.js, Astro, Alpine.js, Livewire, Filament, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui
- Backend & runtimes: PHP, Laravel, Node.js, Bun, edge runtimes, Python
- Mobile: React Native, Expo, NativePHP
- Data: Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, Firebase, Supabase, Redis, Drizzle, pgvector, Pinecone
- CMS: WordPress, Drupal, TYPO3, Kirby, Statamic, Craft CMS, Sanity, Strapi, Ghost
- E-commerce: Shopify, WooCommerce, Prestashop, Magento, Shopware
- DevOps & hosting: Cloudflare, Vercel, AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Hetzner, DigitalOcean
- AI: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google AI, Vercel AI SDK, MCP, RAG, LLM pipelines
- Payments: Stripe, Paddle, Wallee, Worldline
- AdTech: Google Ad Manager, Campaign Manager 360, DV360, The Trade Desk, Adform, Innovid, Meta, Reddit Ads, Google Merchant Center
- Security & monitoring: Akamai, Aikido, Sentry, New Relic, Datadog, Netdata

## Selected clients

Die Mitte, Stadt Zurich, Wirz, Stuzh38, Arthouse Kinos, Mikron, City of Lugano, Gin Bisbino.

## Previously worked with

Lidl, Audi, Netflix, Ovomaltine, Royal Canin, Land Rover, Mercedes, Swisscom, Migros, Samsung, Huawei, Mediacom, Omnicom, Jung von Matt, Webrepublic, Audienzz, Ringier, Tamedia, Goldbach.

## Good fits -- who we help most

- Founders and owners launching their first software product (MVP done properly)
- Companies that need ongoing care for live software without hiring a full-time team
- Seed / Series A startups raising rounds without an internal CTO
- Scale-ups bridging between CTO hires
- Boards, investors and CTOs needing senior outside opinions before expensive decisions
- Non-technical idea-havers who want to build with no-code or AI builders

## Not a fit

- Teams that need an army of junior developers
- Agency-style account management
- Equity-only or unpaid pilot deals
- Pure brand identity, copywriting or paid-ads work
- 24/7 on-call cover (only available in the Scale support tier)

## URL structure & redirects

- All public pages live under the `/en/` prefix.
- Service detail slugs are English (e.g. `/en/services/rent-a-cto`).
- Legacy redirects currently in place:
  - `/products`, `/en/products` -> `/en/lab`
  - `/en/works` -> `/en`
  - `/en/privacy-policy` -> `/en/privacy`
  - `/en/services/solo-builder-coaching` -> `/en/services/from-idea-to-product-guidance`
  - `/en/services/idea-to-product-coaching` -> `/en/services/from-idea-to-product-guidance`
  - `/en/services/ai-workshops` -> `/en/services/ai-masterclass`