This document provides an overview of an Italian startups course. It includes an agenda that covers topics like what is a startup, how to create and work on one, successful Italian startups like Buongiorno and Yoox, and startup failures. Case studies are presented on startups such as Buongiorno, Yoox, Volagratis, Jobrapido, and Glancee. The document also discusses Italian companies like Arduino, Moleskine, and unsuccessful ventures like Webvan.

1. Italian startups
Frieda Brioschi / Emma Tracanella
frieda.brioschi@gmail.com / emma.tracanella@gmail.com
IED
Lesson 1/2014

2. 1. Italian Startups
Course program
1. Italian Startups
2

3. 1. Italian Startups
Today's table of content
1. About us
2. This course
3. Successful italian startups
4. #EpicFAILS
5. Spotlime
6. Lessons learned
3

4. 1. Italian Startups
About us
4

5. 1. Italian Startups
Frieda Brioschi
5

6. 1. Italian Startups
Emma Tracanella
6

7. 1. Italian Startups
This course
7

8. 1. Italian Startups
Startup 360°
• what is a startup
• how can I create mine
• what I don’t need
• what I need to know in advance
• useful tools
• net*
• ..in Italy?
8

9. 1. Italian Startups
HowTo
• work
• work better
• design
• communicate
• present yourself and your idea
• (pitch)
9

10. 1. Italian Startups
Successful startups
10

11. 1. Italian Startups
Buongiorno
Buongiorno is an Italian company that provides content
(such as games, music, and information) for mobile
phones.
Buongiorno started out in 1995 when current chairman
Mauro Del Rio started sending humorous e-mail
messages with the subject "Buongiorno" to 11 friends.
The business expanded quickly—by 1998 he was
sending e-mail newsletters to 25,000 people.
11
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buongiorno

12. 1. Italian Startups
Buongiorno
Del Rio launched Buongiorno SpA to provided services
for the telecommunications market, beginning a policy of
growth through international acquisitions, the first of
which was of the Spanish company MyAlert in 2001.
Buongiorno merged with Vitaminic in July 2003 to form
Buongiorno Vitaminic SpA. The company continued with
its policy of acquisitions, the most significant of which
were the Italian company Gsmbox in 2004, and the
French company Freever in 2005.
12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buongiorno

13. 1. Italian Startups
Buongiorno
13
http://www.buongiorno.com/history-infographic

14. 1. Italian Startups
Buongiorno
14
http://www.buongiorno.com/history-infographic

15. 1. Italian Startups
Buongiorno
15
http://www.buongiorno.com/history-infographic

16. 1. Italian Startups
Buongiorno
16
http://www.buongiorno.com/history-infographic

17. 1. Italian Startups
Buongiorno
In 2006 the group Buongiorno delivered almost 1.4 billion
"digital objects" (ringtones, Java games, wallpapers,
etc.) to over 60 million end users (unique mobile phone
numbers).
As reported on the 2009 balance sheet, the Buongiorno
group has a net worth of around €158.1 million and
revenues of about €259,5 million.
In 2009 the Buongiorno group employed 1000+
employees.
17
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buongiorno - http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buongiorno

18. 1. Italian Startups
Yoox
YOOX Group S.p.A is an Italian internet mail order
retailer of men's and women's multibrand clothing and
accessories. Founded by Federico Marchetti, a former
investment banker, in Zola Predosa near Bologna in
2000, Yoox Group has become a profitable e-commerce
company that serves "more than 100 countries
worldwide".
18
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YOOX

19. 1. Italian Startups
Yoox
It has established itself amongst the market leaders with
the multi-brand stores yoox.com, thecorner.com and
shoescribe.com
Since 2006, YOOX Group designs and manages mono-
brand online stores for fashion brands looking to offer
their latest collection on the Internet (Emporio Armani,
Diesel, Valentino, Moschino, ecc.)
19
http://www.yooxgroup.com/en/press_area/press_kit/yoox_group.asp

20. 1. Italian Startups
Yoox
As reported on the 2011 balance sheet, Yoox group has
a net worth of around €10 million and revenues of about
€291,2 million.
!
In 2011 the Yoox group employed 469 employees (+26%
than 2010).
20
http://cdn2.yoox.biz/yooxgroup/pdf/Bil_YOOX_11_07tris_lr.pdf

21. 1. Italian Startups
Volagratis
The website was created in 2004, spawning from the
success of low-cost flight companies.
Low-costs were usually not considered in the traditional
channels of distribution (booking sites and travel agencies):
an hassle for the customer willing to book a flight, who had
to check all the companies' sites one by one.
This intuition pushed the founders to “ride the wave”,
gaining instant success. Later, they broadened the range of
services offered, including hotels and full holiday packages,
therefore improving the perceived value of the service.
21
http://bit.ly/1cNQDgv

22. 1. Italian Startups
Volagratis
2004 – First incorporation of the society, with 50.000 €
capital, by two founder (Marco Corradino and a business
parntner), one employee
Sale of first flight
2005 – Scheduled flights are introduced (CRS)
First internal customer service, with four employees
2006 - Bravofly Group is constituted, service for the
European market starts, in four languages
22
http://www.volagratis.com/content/it/chisiamo.html

23. 1. Italian Startups
Jobrapido
“Jobrapido is one of the largest job search engines
in the world, delivering 660m visits per year in more
than 50 countries. It helps job seekers search
millions of jobs globally, and provides employers
with access to one of the world's largest candidate
audiences.”
23
http://www.evenbase.com/

24. 1. Italian Startups
Jobrapido
“Looking for a job on the web is annoying”. From this
thought of Vito Lomele (an engineer from Conversano,
who lived in UK and Germany) was born the idea to limit
to the minumum this unavoidable phase: “I was looking
for a job, and I realized how it was difficult and
complicated. So I said myself: there are no search
engines for job offers? I'll make one”
!
Started in 2004, in 2006 became a company
24
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobrapido

25. 1. Italian Startups
Jobrapido
With the project growing, more people and money were
needed: 200k € were raised from some friends, including
the former boss, and 150k € were invested by an
european entrepreneur, Oliver Samwer.
2011's turnover was 24 million Euro, with 3 of net profit;
660 million users, 80 employees from all over the world.
In 2012 Evenbase, from the publishing group DMGT
(Daily Mail and General Trust) bought out 49% of the
company (it is said, for 30 millions), leaving Lomele at the
helm with 51%.
25
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobrapido

26. 1. Italian Startups
Glancee
Glancee is an app that let you discover people nearby
who share friends and interests with you. Behind the
scenes, Glancee uses Facebook to find common friends
and Wikipedia to match users based on interests
relevant to one another.
It is a social discovery tool that reveals the hidden
connections we share with the people we stumble upon
everyday in bars, campuses, even grocery stores.
26
http://www.crunchbase.com/company/glancee

27. 1. Italian Startups
Glancee
Founded in 2010 by Andrea Vaccari, Alberto Tretti and
Gabriel Grisé, it was bought out in 2012 by Facebook.
It was bought before having earned any money, and
without having received any funding.
27

28. 1. Italian Startups
Glancee
“We are therefore very excited to announce that
Facebook has acquired Glancee and that we have
joined the team in Menlo Park to build great
products for over 900 million Facebook users.
We've had such a blast connecting people through
Glancee, and we truly thank our users for being a
part of the Glancee community.”
28
http://www.glancee.com/

29. 1. Italian Startups
Glancee
29
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLshDeggaQs

30. 1. Italian Startups
Timbuktu
“Mag.0” research project funded by WorkingCapital in
2010.
It’s an iPad magazine for children.
30

31. 1. Italian Startups
Timbuktu
In 2011 they won “Mind The Bridge”, then took part in
“500startups” program, where they raised $515K and
won Best Design Award at LAUNCH Education.
31
!
http://timbuktu.me/blog/category/startup/

32. 1. Italian Startups
AppsBuilder
“AppsBuilder is the new cross-platform tool to
create apps in a cost-effective way and without
having any coding skills. The project was born in
2010, when the two computer engineers Luigi Giglio
and Daniele Pelleri acknowledged the mobile as the
major technology shift of our times and decided to
develop a do-it-yourself app platform to create, edit
and promote mobile apps with no programming
skills at all.”
32
http://www.apps-builder.com/en/about

33. 1. Italian Startups
AppsBuilder
33
http://www.apps-builder.com/en/about

34. 1. Italian Startups
Balsamiq
“Balsamiq is the maker of Mockups, the rapid
wireframing software that combines the simplicity
of paper sketching with the power of a digital tool
so that teams can focus on what’s important. We’re
a fast-growing, but small and personable company
that competes on usability and service. We believe
work should be fun, and that life is too short for bad
software.”
34
http://www.balsamiq.com/company/press

35. 1. Italian Startups
Balsamiq
Balsamiq was profitable in 3 weeks after launch.
(it was developed while Peldi was working for Adobe in
the US, coding at night)
35
!

36. 1. Italian Startups
Passpack
“Since 2006 Passpack is the leading innovator in
web-based password management and secure
collaboration. Passpack employs the highest grade
encryption systems, coupled with security patterns
built specifically for the Internet to guarantee
complete data privacy. Businesses worldwide trust
Passpack to protect their logins every day.”
36
http://www.passpack.com/en/media/

37. 1. Italian Startups
Passpack
2006: Passpack, the free online password manager, launched
and immediately started to grow.
2008: Passpack incorporated with headquarters in Italy.
It received seed funding from Zernike Meta Ventures
S.p.A (ZMV), representing Ingenium and members of
Italian Angels for Growth.
2009: ZMV renewed their dedication with additional funding.
2010: Founders move to California, and release Passpack
Mobile.
37
http://www.passpack.com/en/company/

38. 1. Italian Startups
Arduino
38
http://arduino.cc

39. 1. Italian Startups
Arduino
39
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino
Arduino is a single-board microcontroller, intended to make the
application of interactive objects or environments more
accessible. The hardware consists of an open-source
hardware board.
Arduino boards can be purchased pre-assembled or as do-it-
yourself kits. Hardware design information is available for those
who would like to assemble an Arduino by hand. It was estimated
in mid-2011 that over 300,000 official Arduinos had been
commercially produced.

40. 1. Italian Startups
Moleskine
40
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moleskine#History
The present Moleskine notebook is fashioned after Bruce
Chatwin's descriptions of the notebooks he used in his travels. In
The Songlines Chatwin tells the story of his original supplier of
notebooks, a Paris stationer who in 1986 informed him that the
last notebook manufacturer, a small family-run firm in Tours, had
discontinued production that year, after the death of the owner.
In 1997 a small company based in Milan, Modo & Modo SpA,
reintroduced this notebook, and establishing the Moleskine
trademark and starting production of Moleskine notebooks with
5,000 pieces. In 1999, Modo & Modo SpA started distributing
outside Italy. In 2004, Moleskine notebooks arrived in Japan, and
from there Moleskine started distribution to the rest of Asia.

41. 1. Italian Startups
Moleskine
41
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moleskine#History
In 2006 the French investment fund Société Générale Capital
purchased Modo & Modo SpA, and invested in its expansion. The
company name changed to Moleskine Srl. !
In July 2012 Moleskine collections were distributed in 22,000
stores across 95 countries.!
In 2011, Moleskine production extended to new categories with the
new writing, travelling and reading collections, launched at the
Milan Design Week 2011.!
In March 2013 the company announced that it will go public at the
Milan, Italy, stock exchange.

42. 1. Italian Startups42

43. 1. Italian Startups
LoveTheSign
43
http://www.lovethesign.com
LoveTheSign it’s an italian online home design shop.
In 2013 received 1 million € by some investors (United Ventures,
Novus Ventures etc).
In its catalogue:
• temporary selling (up to 60% cut off)
• best design firms
• young designers self production
• cool craft product
counting about 5000 products and 220 brands.

44. 1. Italian Startups
Changing perspective..
44

45. 1. Italian Startups45

46. 1. Italian Startups
Volunia
46
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ph9S2xeCSU

47. 1. Italian Startups47

48. 1. Italian Startups
Ovo
48
http://vimeo.com/23854563

49. 1. Italian Startups49

50. 1. Italian Startups50

51. 1. Italian Startups51

52. 1. Italian Startups52

53. 1. Italian Startups53

54. 1. Italian Startups
Webvan
Born in 1999 as a online shop and delivery service for
groceries in Silicon Valley, California.
Founded by Louis Borders, a successful entrepreneur
(founder of Borders Bookstores)
Promised 30 minutes deliveries anywhere in town, 24/7.
Within an year and still in the red, it expanded business
to 10 major US cities, aiming to reach 26 biggest cities in
the country.
54

55. 1. Italian Startups
Webvan
Gained 375 million $ in investment money within 18 months
(from Goldman Sachs, Yahoo, Sequoia Capital etc)
Worth 1.2 billion after two years (despite no sustainable
revenues)
13 million sales in its first 6 months (despite reporting 35 million
losses)
Over 2000 employees, presence in the most important US
markets (west coast)
Bought out its direct competitor with 1 billion $ in stocks
55

56. 1. Italian Startups
Webvan
Huge investments in infrastructure (inspired by Amazon)
300,000-square-foot distribution centres (the “most
automated in the world”)
Lots of advertising
200 trucks for the Atlanta area only (grand total actually
unknown)
Refitted company headquarters → 92.000$ for 115 chairs
(800$ ea)
56

57. 1. Italian Startups
Webvan
Grocery business in the US works on razor-thin margins
2-3 cents per dollar are considered good margin 1 cent
per dollar is common
Burned through 1 billion $ in investment money without
achieving a sustainable business model
No one on the board had any experience in management
Operating expenses much higher than traditional
channels
57

58. 1. Italian Startups
Webvan
Ultimately:
• bad management decisions
• customers' advantages did not justified higher prices
• too much money avalaible induced lavish spending
• dotcom bubble collapsed
LARGEST DOT COM FLOP EVER
According to CNET
58

59. 1. Italian Startups
Spotlime
59
http://www.spotli.me

60. 1. Italian Startups
Further analysis
60

61. 1. Italian Startups61
http://bit.ly/1cE5WW8

62. 1. Italian Startups62
http://bit.ly/1cE5WW8
http://bit.ly/1cE5WW8

63. 1. Italian Startups63
http://bit.ly/1cE5WW8

64. 1. Italian Startups64
http://venturevillage.eu/startup-genome-report-europe

65. 1. Italian Startups65
http://bit.ly/1d4XvGx

66. 1. Italian Startups
Don't do it!
Galatea's 5 points against founding a startup:
1. A startup is not only a good idea
2. A startup is an enterprise
3. A startup is a work group
4. A startup must have a good product
5. A startup is stressful
66
http://www.techeconomy.it/2012/10/10/lorgia-della-start-up-e-sei-consigli-per-non-fondarla/

67. www.fi.com/join/dna
66 1. Italian Startups

68. 1. Italian Startups68
www.fi.com/join/dna

69. 1. Italian Startups69
www.fi.com/join/dna

70. 1. Italian Startups70
www.fi.com/join/dna

71. 1. Italian Startups71
http://bit.ly/1ibFLbh

72. 1. Italian Startups
Zombie?
• You don’t want to get out of bed in the morning
• You don’t want to go out in public for fear you’ll have to
explain what you do
• You haven’t hit 10% week-over-week growth on any
meaningful metric (revenue, active users, etc)
• You’re working on the same idea after 12+ months and
still haven’t launched
• You’ve launched a consumer service and have less than
2% week-over-week growth in signups
72
http://www.daniellemorrill.com/2013/03/zombie-startups/

73. 1. Italian Startups
Zombie?/2
• You’ve launched an enterprise service and have
less than 2% week-over-week growth in revenue pipeline
• You are the CEO and hole yourself up in the offices
so you don’t have to talk to employees and can read
TechCrunch
• You’ve hired consultants to figure out revenue,
culture, or product in a company of less than 10 people
• You’re at SXSW right now reading this post and
trying not to cry
73
http://www.daniellemorrill.com/2013/03/zombie-startups/

74. 1. Italian Startups
Next week
How to set up a startup in Italy!
74