The verdict in three sentences
For a pre-seed B2B SaaS startup in Lausanne, the right provider is the one that ships an investor-credible site fast and leaves your team able to edit it alone afterwards. A Lausanne agency earns its fee if you want weekly in-person brand workshops and a shoot in your office; a remote studio is enough if your message is already clear and you need product pages, a careers page and an investor page live in 3 to 4 weeks. Either way, put the domain, code and accounts in your company's name in the contract before your first due diligence.
Which criteria really matter for a team of 2 to 5 founders?
At pre-seed, the site speaks to three audiences at once: angels and seed funds opening your deck, early B2B customers comparing you with incumbents, and candidates, often EPFL or HEIG-VD graduates. Around EPFL Innovation Park and across the Lake Geneva region, the ecosystem leans towards deeptech, robotics, medtech and food tech: investors read English, while your first customers in French-speaking Switzerland read French. As an English-speaking founder based in Lausanne, you will probably lead with English and still need solid French pages for local buyers. Those constraints should drive the choice more than price alone.
| Criterion | Lausanne agency | Remote studio (e.g. Kolonell) | Weight at pre-seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time zone | Same zone, meetings any time | One to two hours apart depending on season, 6 to 7 hours of daily overlap | Low |
| Workshops and meetings | In-person workshops in Écublens or town, often included | Video calls, rarely in person | Medium to high if the brand is not defined |
| Languages | Native French, English depends on the agency | Native English or French copywriting included | High: French for customers, English for investors |
| Build price | CHF 15,000 to 60,000 depending on scope (2026 ballpark) | CHF 2,700, 4,500 or 8,200 depending on tier | High when runway matters |
| Ownership of domain, code and accounts | Varies, set it in the contract | In your name, write it into the contract too | Critical before due diligence |
| On-site photo and video | Often included or subcontracted locally | Local photographer as a third-party cost | Medium |
| Iteration after launch | Hourly or retainer, often CHF 1,500 to 6,000 per month | Team-editable CMS, 3 months of support included | High |
Local ranges are 2026 ballparks drawn from typical agency quotes and public agency rate pages, not from a survey. They vary widely depending on whether the agency includes brand strategy.
What does each option cost over three years?
For an 8 to 15 page SaaS site, a freelance designer-developer in French-speaking Switzerland typically quotes CHF 6,000 to 15,000, a studio or agency CHF 15,000 to 35,000, and a brand agency that reworks your positioning CHF 35,000 to 60,000 or more. Kolonell's international grid is fixed: Starter CHF 2,700, Growth CHF 4,500, Premium CHF 8,200 (the multilingual tier, languages set in the quote), with a project manager reachable in your time zone, native copywriting, delivery in 3 to 4 weeks and 3 months of support.
| Item over 3 years | Lausanne agency | Local freelancer | Kolonell Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Site build | CHF 25,000 | CHF 9,000 | CHF 4,500 |
| Positioning workshop | Included | Not planned | Part of the brief, by video |
| Team and product photos | Included | CHF 1,500 (local photographer, third-party cost) | CHF 1,500 (local photographer, third-party cost) |
| Hosting and maintenance (market assumption: CHF 150 per month over 36 months) | CHF 5,400 | CHF 5,400 | CHF 5,400 |
| Updates: fundraising, hiring and case study pages (market assumption: 20 hours a year at CHF 140) | CHF 8,400 | CHF 8,400 | CHF 8,400 |
| Indicative 3-year total | CHF 38,800 | CHF 24,300 | CHF 19,800 |
The maintenance and update rows are market assumptions applied to every column, not Kolonell prices: after the 3 included months, Kolonell maintenance is on quote. The real gap sits in the build and in the depth of brand work, which is what the agency premium actually buys.
When is a Lausanne agency clearly the better choice?
To be honest, a funded startup moving fast sometimes does better paying more for a partner it sees every week. The local agency wins if your positioning is still open and you want three or four in-person workshops with the whole team, if your deeptech product shows best on video shot in the lab, or if what you really need is an external design team on retainer until you hire an in-house designer.
A remote studio is enough when the deck is written, the message fits in one sentence and you must be live before a run of investor meetings next month. It is also the sensible choice if you plan to hire a designer within 12 to 18 months: a standard CMS and clean source files make the handover simple.
Questions to ask both types of provider:
- Will the domain, hosting, code repository and analytics accounts be created in our name from day one?
- How many hours of CMS training are planned so the team can publish a job ad or a post alone?
- Are a job board integration on the careers page and developer docs priced separately?
- Which privacy notice template and cookie banner do you deliver?
- Which accessibility target do you work to, WCAG 2.1 AA or 2.2 AA, and how do you check it?
- What does the handover include if we bring design in-house?
Need a professional website?
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On the legal side: the revised Federal Act on Data Protection (nLPD, also called revFADP) has been in force since 1 September 2023, supervised by the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC). Among other things, it requires you to inform people whose data you collect, through a privacy notice. If you target residents of the European Union, the GDPR also applies and a compliant consent banner becomes the norm. For accessibility, aiming for WCAG 2.1 AA is sensible for a SaaS selling to large accounts. This is not legal advice.
Mini case study
Illustrative example: Léa and Malik co-found a B2B SaaS for industrial maintenance planning, a team of four based near EPFL, preparing a seed round. They receive a Lausanne agency quote of CHF 28,000 with three workshops included, and choose Kolonell Growth at CHF 4,500 plus CHF 1,200 for a local photographer (third-party cost), so CHF 5,700. To protect the brand work, they add three positioning workshops with an independent consultant at CHF 1,800 each, CHF 5,400 in third-party costs. Total: CHF 11,100, which is CHF 16,900 less than the agency, with the site live in four weeks. If the workshops show that a full brand project is needed, they can hand it to a local agency later without starting from scratch.
FAQ
Can a remote studio run a positioning workshop?
Yes, by video, usually as 2 sessions of 90 minutes with the founders. For deep brand work with the whole team in the room, a local agency remains the better fit.
How long does it take to go live before a round?
Plan 3 to 4 weeks with Kolonell, against a ballpark of 6 to 12 weeks for a local agency that includes brand strategy. The bottleneck is almost always founder sign-off on copy.
Do we need French and English from pre-seed?
Many teams launch one main language with Growth at CHF 4,500, then add the second. If both languages are needed from day one, Premium at CHF 8,200 (the multilingual tier, languages set in the quote) covers it.
Who owns the code and the domain?
You do, provided the contract says so, with access transferred at no charge on delivery. Check it on 100% of accounts: registrar, hosting, code repository, analytics.
What happens when we hire an in-house designer?
A standard CMS and delivered source files allow a handover in a few days. The 3 included months of support cover the first questions, then maintenance is on quote.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your stage, priority pages and investor meeting date, and we will reply with a scope, a tier between CHF 2,700 and CHF 8,200 and a 3 to 4 week timeline. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.