Before Amorana, I tried different things that didn't work. Some barely launched. Some launched and nobody cared. I studied Economics and Sinology at the University of Zurich and in Nanjing, China, and later headed the Startup Center at the University of Zurich. I kept experimenting.

My co-founder Lukas Speiser and I had met during our studies in Zurich. He had spent four years in investment banking; I'd been running the university's startup center. We reconnected, brainstormed, and landed on e-commerce in the erotic lifestyle space. The market in Switzerland had almost no modern suppliers. We launched Amorana.ch on February 24, 2014. Our first product was the Lovebox, a curated subscription box. The timing turned out to be perfect: Fifty Shades of Grey was everywhere, and suddenly the whole country was talking about exactly what we were selling.

In 2014, Amorana was still a small experiment.

A simple online shop. A few first orders. A category most people did not want to talk about openly.

In Switzerland, this topic was still surrounded by a lot of shame and awkwardness. People were curious, but the buying experience often felt uncomfortable. Shops were hidden, branding was outdated, and the topic was treated like something strange.

We wanted to change that.

Our idea was simple: Make sexual wellness normal.

We ran creative PR stunts, that army recruits could send to their girlfriends for free. We tested every marketing channel, PR, TV spots around Bachelor episodes, sponsored content, and word-of-mouth campaigns. We grew from two founders to a team of 34. We moved into a warehouse in Glattbrugg. And we launched Switzerland's first erotic advent calendar, which became a bestseller every year.

Instead of making people feel uncomfortable, it gave them an easy and fun way to discover the category.

Entrepreneurs always have new ideas. That sounds good, but it can also be dangerous.

At Amorana, one of the biggest lessons was focus.

We had to say no to many things in order to make one thing work.

No new random projects. No distractions. No chasing every shiny opportunity. Just improving the shop, the marketing, the logistics, the customer experience, the conversion rate, and the brand.

Again and again.

Lukas once described it as being “all-in.” I focused on marketing and sales as CMO, while Lukas led the company as CEO.

That combination worked.

On September 17, 2020, the UK-based Lovehoney Group acquired a majority stake in Amorana. Lovehoney was the only truly global brand in the sexual wellness industry, with leading positions on three continents. With their backing, we could cement our position as the number one player in Switzerland and start looking at European expansion. Lukas stayed on as CEO, I stayed on as CMO. We both remained shareholders.

For me, this was not just a business transaction.

It was the first time after many years of trying, failing, living cheaply, and building things from scratch, that one of my projects really worked.

Amorana gave me financial stability.

But more importantly, it gave me freedom to work on new ideas.

In 2022, I sold my remaining shares and left the company. It was time. Amorana was in good hands and I wanted to start something new, something built around content, community, and products for people who want to optimize their lives. That became the Alan Frei Company. Looking back, Amorana was the project that changed everything. Not just financially, but in how I think about building things, taking risks, and knowing when to let go.