Every night I tell my daughter a story, and she falls asleep holding my hand. for me an indescribable joy, as for all parents. Like all parents though, I also know that one day my daughter will grow up, and be independent, and live her life. Yoox, to me, was kind of like a son. Now, after 22 years, it’s time to let Yoox go on his way. I couldn’t be prouder of what has been done.
Federico Marchetti, 51 years old, founder of Yoox and then of Yoox Net-A-Porter, multinational of the fashion e-commerce, first and so far the only Italian to invent a unicorno of the tech sector (a startup that went from 0 to 1 billion dollars), leaves the presidency of his creation, the transition period is over and this is the last day of work in his futuristic office on the Navigli, a Milano, a kind of spaceship decorated with art objects (a collector).
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Ynap’s accounts and the manager’s farewell
I leave things perfectly fine: our shareholder Richemont has released his financial results, including those of the online distributors of which Ynap is the main part: + 86% in the last quarter. an extraordinary success for all our teams, we almost doubled the revenues of last year’s quarter – he explains – I wanted to leave with a well done succession plan, announced 18 months ago and put “on hold” due to Covid; then we reopened the practice in September 2020, there was the appointment of the new CEO, the French Geoffroy Lefebvre, a reliable figure who has already worked with me: there is not even that vague risk factor sometimes associated with the entry of an external figure … Richemont he behaved very elegantly, as should be done between shareholder and entrepreneur and unfortunately often this does not happen: the other day they surprised me, they came from Geneva and we toasted all together. These are also values: leaving each other with elegance and fairness.
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Yoox the dream shop
Basically, the opposite of style managers after me the deluge : Yes, there are also those who rejoice if the company they headed goes wrong after their exit. Crazy for me: I hope Yoox will do 100 times better in the future than now. I often say that if a dress is well cut and the fabric is of quality, that dress remains extraordinary forever. Yoox was simply my dream shop. my dream came true.
This last day of work, Thursday 22 July 2021 party on the terrace with the current team of Yoox, and also with the “old”: I invited all my collaborators who are no longer here because they have gone elsewhere, the merit of what it was done too and they too deserved my thanks.
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The pride of the unicorn
The greatest pride, for, in these twenty years, not for Marchetti to have been right (in 1999, when he was looking for money for his startup, no one believed that fashion sold online could become a success). No, the pride that I leave a very Italian company. Ynap is a complex ecosystem, from data to robots to the warehouse, but the Italian spirit has remained. The shareholder is Swiss but the whole Italian structure: registered office in Italy, logistics center in Italy, technology center in Italy. Which means jobs, but also an entrepreneurial spirit and Italian creativity.
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Federico Marchetti’s future
Marchetti’s future? The university, and sustainability. The work on sustainability continues in the Sustainable Markets Initiative conceived by Prince Charles (An exceptional man and a visionary of ecology: his primary commitment since 1969, the year of my birth) which will lead to the G20 in Rome and COP26 in Glasgow. And then there is the great news of the chair at Bocconi (where he graduated before the MBA at Columbia) tailor-made for him: from 8 September he will teach Creating a Startup in the Digital and Sustainable Economy, Creating a startup in the digital and sustainable economy. Lessons every Thursday and Friday from 10.20 to 11.50. Taking lessons, taking exams: everything. He will be what in America they call “professor of practice”, one who teaches because he did something. They all talk about young people, NextGen for young people, but young Italians are all going away, we are penultimate in Europe in the ranking of young entrepreneurs. For me a fundamental call, that of Bocconi: I could have gone to Columbia, but I am Italian and for me Italy needs everyone’s commitment at this stage.
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How to create a startup
Marchetti will teach how to create a startup and, in a very trumpet style, indicates to his future students a simple and monstrously ambitious goal at the same time: I invented the first Italian unicorn, the next I would like my student to invent.
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