Leaving with the Desire to Come Back

Exiting a start-up can be imposed rather than sought. For confirmation, ask Federico Isenburg, who was born in Genoa in 1978 but lived in Milan from elementary school up to a degree in Business Administration at Bocconi with a specialization in finance. In fact, he would never have sold his Easywelfare had it not been for particular circumstances: "I was trying to replace financial partners," he says. "The company was doing well and I was convinced it still had great potential for development, but obviously I didn't make it attractive enough for the financial funds." In this context, Edenred (a French multinational in welfare solutions and corporate mobility) stepped in: "They showed that they strongly wanted the acquisition, they provided prospects for development, guarantees... and they won the battle".

For Federico, it was undoubtedly a success, because Easywelfare, born from nothing in 2007, is the company that de facto systematized the world of flexible benefits, the advantages that companies give employees as incentives and alternative remuneration. In the course of 12 years, turnover has reached over 11 million euros, with over 700 corporate customers and 600,000 beneficiaries.

«But in terms of entrepreneurship, for me, selling was not the ideal solution. Today I see more and more people opening a company, qualifying it as a start-up and then pulling almost urgently towards the exit, as if the only goal was enough wild growth to finalize a sale. For me, starting a company means... starting a company. When you are an entrepreneur you also have a social function: developing a business, hiring people, creating jobs... ». That's why, at 40, Federico can't wait to throw himself back into the fray.