Published 4 min read
Why local beats global: building Flipp in Zug for Swiss companies
By Mario Leoni and Andras Hejj
We build Flipp from Zug and Zurich, for companies we can meet in person. This is why we think that matters more than scale.
Local means knowing the rules, not looking them up
Zug and Zurich are about half an hour apart by train, and they don't share the same public holidays. In 2026, Zug has four that Zurich doesn't, including Corpus Christi and All Saints' Day, while Zurich has Labour Day and Zug doesn't. Multiply that by 26 cantons, and a single holiday setting in a global tool starts to look optimistic.
Flipp's time module, still in development, syncs public holidays for the canton a company selects, and each person can be assigned their own work canton. Amounts default to Swiss francs. These are small details until someone has to fix them by hand at the end of the month.
Local means your language, not a translation of ours
Switzerland has four national languages, and a single company might run its office in German, its workshop in Italian and its board meeting in English. Software built English-first, with a translated menu on top, quietly turns everyone else into a second-class user.
Flipp runs in German, French, Italian and English, and each person chooses their own. We also talk to customers in their language, which is hard to do from a support desk several time zones away.
Local means a short line to the people who build it
When something doesn't fit how a Swiss company works, the fix usually starts with a conversation. We are Mario Leoni and Andras Hejj, we live in Zug and Zurich, and most of the companies we work with are a short train ride away.
That shortens the distance between a request and a release. A global vendor plans a roadmap for millions of users. We plan ours around companies we know by name.
Why Switzerland is a good place to build business software
Swiss companies expect things to work, and they say so directly. That makes for demanding customers and useful ones: they reward reliability over novelty, and they have little patience for features that look good in a demo and fail in daily use.
The country is small enough to know and varied enough to test you. Software that holds up across languages, cantons and industries here has already been tested properly.
Where global still wins, and what we do about it
Global platforms have scale: more integrations, more features and larger teams. We don't pretend otherwise.
Our answer is to be good at what matters to Swiss companies and to connect to the rest. Flipp signs in with Microsoft, Google or Apple, and it can keep your people directory in sync with Microsoft Entra ID, so it fits alongside the tools you already use.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Flipp built in Switzerland?
- Yes. Flipp is built by a team based in Zug and Zurich, and works mostly with companies in Switzerland.
- Which languages does Flipp support?
- German, French, Italian and English, on the web and in the mobile app. Each person chooses their own.
- Does Flipp handle cantonal public holidays?
- Yes. The time module, still in development, syncs public holidays for the selected canton, and each person can be assigned their own work canton.
- Who is behind Flipp?
- Flipp is a brand of NBK Labs AG in Oberwil bei Zug. Mario Leoni and Andras Hejj, who live in Zug and Zurich, work mostly with Swiss companies.
More from the blog
- Flipp for iPhone and Android is now available
The Flipp mobile app has been approved by Apple and Google. Record time, submit an expense with a receipt photo, and clear approvals without opening a laptop.
Time tracking for teams that are not at a desk
Mobile time tracking only pays off if the entry happens where the work does. What to look for in a tool, and how Flipp handles project time on a phone.
Bring us the process that slows your team down.
We will show you where Flipp can help, and what it would take to switch the module on.