EP 603: Velasca Has Sold 20,000 Italian Shoes to 15,000 Men, $1.6m 2016 Revenue, $750k Raised with CEO Enrico Casati

Enrico Casati. He is the co-founder and CEO Velasca, a company that specializes in handcrafted shoes. Enrico is based in Milan, Italy.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – The 4-Hour Workweek
• What CEO do you follow? – Elon Musk
• Favorite online tool? — Adabra
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Know your audience before doing anything business related"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:43 – Nathan introduces Enrico to the show
• 02:03 – Velasca is an online brand focused on hand-crafted shoes
• 02:26 – Velasca was self-funded and had a VC round
• • 02:39 – Velasca had raised €750K
  • 03:01 – It was an equity round
• 03:18 – Enrico's dad was an entrepreneur but not a shoe maker
• 03:31 – Enrico shares how the idea of Velasca started
• 03:51 – It was 4 years ago when Enrico started Velasca
• 04:34 – Enrico shares about one of their products
• • 04:52 – The source of the raw materials
• 05:30 – The cost to make the Artista shoes
• • 05:52 – 2.4 markup
• 06:47 – Net margin
• • 06:52 – Depends on the marketing budget you want to spend
  • 06:59 – High growth pace
  • 07:32 – "We invest so much on marketing"
• 08:10 – Velasca has spent €20K on marketing in January 2017
• 08:38 – Enrico had the first idea of Velasca in the summer of 2012
• • 08:52 – The first collection on their website was launched in May 2013
  • 09:25 – The first year was about the testing
  • 09:34 – Since September 2014, Velasca has grown in people
• 09:43 – Current team size is 10
• 09:54 – Around 15K customers have bought from Velasca
• 10:17 – Average check out value
• 10:50 – Customer repurchase rate
• 11:52 – CAC
• 12:00 – LTV
• • 12:10 – "The lifetime is really worth the cost we're spending"
• 12:45 – Velasca has sold around 20K pairs of shoes
• 12:56 – Velasca's best-seller is the Black Oxford
• 13:16 – "Versatility is what makes the shoes'
• 14:00 – First year revenue is €60K
• • 14:04 - €200K the second year
  • 14:08 - €1.6M the third year
  • 14:43 – Topline revenue
• 15:25 – Enrico's goal is to reach €4M
• 16:06 – Enrico spends more on paid advertising
• 18:08 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

• Study your product, first, before putting it in public.
• Invest paid marketing that performs well.
• Your relationship with your customers will reflect on your customer retention.

Resources Mentioned:

• Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
• Drip – Nathan uses Drip's email automation platform and visual campaign builder to build his sales funnel
• Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn't have to hire a co-founder due to the quality of Toptal
• Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible.
• Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books.
• The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
• Jamf – Jamf helped Nathan keep his Macbook Air 11" secure even when he left it in the airplane's back seat pocket
• Freshbooks – Nathan doesn't waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives