The venture builder Mamazen is closing two of its start-ups. This decision has been taken despite market demand and an active customer base; however, despite their positive figures, the two companies lacked the foundations for sustainable growth.
“In Italy, closing a business is still often seen as a personal judgement, whereas elsewhere it is simply a step along the way,” says Farhad Alessandro Mohammadi, CEO of Mamazen (pictured). “The real failure isn’t closing a business, but failing to learn anything from what has happened.” “The Mamazen method involves a six-month decision-making window: if, within that period, a project does not show clear signs of scalability, the lack of results is no longer seen as uncertainty, but as information. Halting a project is not a failure; it is an efficient reallocation of capital, time and expertise towards initiatives with greater potential.”
Zenvet, a home veterinary care start-up, had monthly revenues in excess of six thousand euros and a base of repeat customers. But the figures also told a different story: the customer acquisition cost was around 120 euros, whilst the average margin per service was around 29 euros, with an average usage frequency of just 1.5 times a year. The aim was to recoup the CAC (customer acquisition cost) within nine months, but reality revealed a structural misalignment that was impossible to correct, even after attempts to evolve the model, introduce subscriptions and expand into B2B. Efforts to evolve the model, from subscriptions to partnerships with veterinary clinics, did not change the situation. Even potentially effective solutions, such as remote consultations, ran into regulatory hurdles, whilst preventative services were not in line with Italians’ habits.
The lesson was simple: customers weren’t using the service enough, and with such low usage, simply improving costs or efficiency wasn’t enough to make the model sustainable. To bring about real change, it would have been necessary to completely rethink the product and the target market.
Micury, an on-demand massage platform, had acquired 350 customers in just a few months across Turin and Milan, with a service perceived as being of a very high standard. However, this growth was hampered by a customer acquisition cost of around €75, compared to a sustainable target of under €45. The home setting, whilst offering convenience, introduced constant friction: inadequate space, daily unforeseen issues, and difficulties in keeping appointments, leading to postponements and bookings that were never finalised. The attempt to move the service to hotels and accommodation facilities generated interest from partners, but the temporary nature of stays and certain constraints of the business model prevented it from being scaled up.
For Mamazen, however, the closure of these projects did not mark the end of their entrepreneurial journeys. The founders involved have moved on to new ventures; some are now leading new start-ups, whilst others have joined the Mamazen team directly.
“Startup Studio is already developing new projects that directly incorporate the lessons learnt from ZenVet and Micury, because the real failure is not learning anything,” adds Mohammadi. “Today, assessing usage frequency and mapping potential resistance among the target audience will be essential for us when launching a new start-up.”
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