A Startupper Who Wants to Leave His Mark

TOGETHER WITH TWO FRIENDS, BOCCONI GRADUATE VITO MARGIOTTA CREATED SNAPP, AN APP THAT IS CHANGING THE WAY PEOPLE DO BUSINESS IN EMERGENT ECONOMIES. VIA SMARTPHONE, OF COURSE

The word "creative" derives from kar-tr, a Sanskrit word meaning "he who makes something out of nothing." And Vito Margiotta, Bocconi alumnus, is a creative person in all respects because, along with Asaf Kindler and Gabriel Gurovich, he has given birth to something that was not there before: Snapp, an app to create websites, blogs and e-commerce platforms, straight from your smartphone. Designed primarily for emerging markets where PCs are virtually nonexistent and business is only done through mobile phones, Snapp is set to change the lives of two billion users in developing countries.
 
Vito Margiotta's creativity was attested by Wired who invited him to the Wired Next Festival; it was also acknowledged by Forbes that included him among the "30 under 30" Class of 2017, an influential technology ranking; and it was awarded by the Mobile World Congress. His creative talent is so multifaceted and contagious, that digital innovation is not enough to fill his public life. When he goes to New York, he performs as a stand-up comedian.
 
➜ How did Snapp's journey begin?
With a friendship. When I went to the Singularity University I met Asaf Kindler and Gabriel Gurovich, and all three of us were interested in doing business empowerment in emerging markets: we realized that, in those areas, small businesses were not growing as fast as they could.
 
➜ How did this awareness come to you?
From our experience. I had followed certain projects in Africa for Google and, as a Bocconi student, I had done experiences in China and Thailand; Gabriel was familiar with South America's social fabric and Asaf with Africa's.
 
➜ What do entrepreneurs in developing countries want?
They want to be on the internet, find new customers and sell online. In Kenya, for example, less than 1% of the population owns a computer but almost everyone has a cell phone. Before Snapp, it was impossible to create a website from a smartphone.
 
➜ In four years, Snapp will reach two billion people. How does it feel?
The social impact of Snapp is extraordinary. Our target is a fledgling but rather receptive market, where demand for technology has exploded. Today, people in emerging countries are using mobile phones as a means of communication and entertainment, tomorrow they will use them to do business.
 
➜ What is the feedback of those who have used Snapp?
It's been great, we have received loads of thanks.
 
➜ Let's take a step back. How did you get started?
We started from our own personal knowledge. Asaf and Gabriel had already had entrepreneurial experiences, while contribution came through the TED future conferences that I have organized in Lecce starting three years ago. Snapp's first year was very challenging because we had no money. Then we got chosen by Start-Up Chile, the development program for startups sponsored by the Chilean government, and left for Santiago. We were given six months' time and a six-month credit line to build a prototype and launch it.
 
➜ How did your family and friends and family take your decision to leave a permanent job at Google to venture into a startup?
More than once, I was told I was a madman.
 
➜ What made you persevere?
I proposed the idea to Google but received no interest from them. So I stayed at the company, but the Snapp project continued to whir in my mind: the belief of having an enormous opportunity at hand made me take a leap into the dark.
 
➜ How did you convince investors about Snapp's potential?
By sharing with them the results of a test. We identified samples of users in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, the United States, to whom we proposed they write a three-page essay on a cell phone. In Western countries, the answer was always negative because they said they would need a PC to do that; in Asia and Africa, the response always positive; in Latin America they were asking to do it with e-dictation software.
 
➜ How did you go from idea to product?
We did nine months of testing, and then we launched a beta version. Then we built the first prototype that we presented in January 2016: in a short time, we reached half a million users.
 
➜ How did you promote Snapp?
Through classic advertising and partnerships, which have proven to be the best promotion tool. In Malawi, for example, we partnered with universities, UNICEF, local businesses accelerators and the Chamber of Commerce. This was how we created a network of ambassadors in each territory, explaining the potential of online business person-to-person. Neighborhood dynamics and word of mouth did the rest. It's called the network effect.
 
➜ And in other countries, what kind of agreements did you sign?
In India, we are trying to take all small and medium businesses in the Mumbai area online.
 
➜ You operate in an economy which is parallel to the traditional one.
Yes, and it's exciting. In these areas, most people do not have a bank account and therefore do not have credit cards. Fintech is the solution. In India, for example, mobile payment services, such as Paytm, have grown exponentially.
 
➜ And PayPal?
We have partnered with PayPal: they want to get into the business segment of emerging markets and use us to make customer acquisition.
 
➜ From three founders, today you have grown into a company of 17 employees. How has your professional life changed?
A few months ago I realized that my management style was no longer appropriate to the conditions in which we were. So I consulted my mentor, who explained to me how to put into practice many of the skills learned at Bocconi. I went from being operational to managing the operation of the team.
 
➜ Where is the Snapp team physically located?
The team consists of people from various countries. There are also two Italians: Alberto Iore, our head of sales, and Martina Bodini, freshly graduated from Bocconi, who's in charge of business development. The team is divided between Tel Aviv and Sofia. We have a couple of people in Chile and we are opening offices in Mumbai.
 
➜ Does India represent Snapp's second reincarnation?
Yes, we are launching Seemba, a business management platform that follows in the footsteps of Snapp but integrates more sophisticated tools such as CRM. Another change concerns the market penetration model. With Snapp we took the global approach; with Seemba, however, we are focusing on a single market, that of Mumbai's state (Maharashtra), and then replicating the same pattern in ten other Indian states: in one shot, we're likely to reach hundreds of millions of people.
 
➜ Ambitious. What is your dream?
I don't know, but my goal is definitely to make social impact through what I do. I really love business empowerment, and I do this with Snapp, with Seemba, but also with the TED talks.
 
➜ What is your favorite stage?
New York caberet, where I sometime perform as a stand-up comedian.

by Allegra Gallizia
Translated by Alex Foti