More Than an Exit, a Marriage

"When referring to startups, the word exit is misleading," argues Alessandro Petazzi. He is co-founder and CEO of Musement, a platform that offers 50,000 travel experiences and attractions that can be booked in 80 countries around the world. This adventure began in 2013 when four entrepreneurs with a variety of backgrounds got together. After graduating from Bocconi with a degree in Business Economics, Alessandro in particular was a part of Fastweb's startup, where he gained fundamental experience he would then apply to the Musement business adventure.

"Formally, exits occur when the shares of the company are sold. But this does not mean that the company closes. The founders of Musement, for example, have sold all shares to Tui (a German multinational with €20 billion in annual sales), but we are continuing to do what we did before." Because the real issue, stresses Petazzi, is scale: "By our own efforts, we would have only been able to grow in small steps. The right synergy was needed to get to the next level." Like their synergy with Tui, which has provided Musement with a huge and consolidated customer base, in exchange receiving technology and skills that it did not have.

The numbers have proved that this was a winning choice: "Before the acquisition we had 130 employees and a turnover of €35 million. A year after the agreement, there are 220 employees, with a turnover of almost €100 million." Solidity, continuity and an excellent outlook: with these results, Musement's was not so much an exit but rather the perfect marriage. This is another important consideration for anyone dreaming of launching a startup: "Enthusiasm for an idea is not enough," says Alessandro. "You also need an awareness of what you're getting into. Because once the idea grows it becomes something real, which implies responsibility towards the people involved." And there is no "exit" from true responsibility.