After having worked in the management consultancy field (Roland Berger and Arthur D. Little) and failed at my first business venture in 2003 (my company was called OneSlicy and we made t-shirts which had one short and one long sleeve), I decided to try again and I have luckily met Cristina Pozzi, who believed in me and in my business vision. In 2006, we launched Wish Days together, which is now mainly known for Emozione3 gift boxes but which was initially the first Italian website selling gift vouchers, Elation.it.

During these years we went through an extraordinary path, a tough but blessed one, shared with thousands of Colleagues, Partners, Suppliers, Clients and Consumers.

Some of the People we met at the beginning of our adventure, still work with us and contribute to Wish Days growing bigger and more successful: marvellous People with various professional skills but above all human qualities.

Livia Napoleone, Alessandro Zampini, Alessandro Racasi, who is one of the key People behind the success of Emozione3, Paola Varinelli and Simone Zanolo, who after having invested a significant amount of money in Wish Days in 2006, finally decided to enter the management board in 2010 becoming in this way “one of us”.

The list of my colleagues is a long one, and it would take too long to list all of them: there are now more than 100 employees working for Wish Days. I’m grateful to each of them but the colleagues I mentioned have a special place in my thoughts: mainly because they were by my side when it all started.

Why this blog? During this time, I’ve noticed the increasing growth of attention towards both the start-up phenomenon and the willingness to fully comprehend and get to know this extraordinary world.

For several reasons.
First, to understand how to maintain the “startupper” spirit permeating our company. Second, to evaluate the best model to structure the incubator of new digital initiatives that we have just launched. Third, to keep on learning, and lastly, just out of pure and simple curiosity.

While reading articles and blogs on this topic, I noticed that people never, if ever, deal with the 90% of the start-ups that did not make it, thus not discussing about the lessons one can learn from these failures.

I started taking notes but due to my terrible handwriting I thought I’d rather start copying them all out on my computer. And then, thanks to the encouragement of my co-founder Cristina, without whom Wish Days would not exist, I finally started this blog.

I am aware of having nothing to invent or to teach. However, the simple and genuine willingness to tell how I see (or remember) certain situations seems a good enough reason to start writing this blog, with the critical sensibility of an ex startupper, now entrepreneur (a lucky one) and investor in others’ initiatives.

Thanks for your time, your suggestions, your critics.

 

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angelo.co