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Mar 19, 2017 · 21m · top-founders

EP 603: Velasca Has Sold 20,000 Italian Shoes to 15,000 Men, $1.6m 2016 Revenue, $750k Raised with CEO Enrico Casati

Enrico Casati · 11m spoken Nathan Latka · 7m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The Top, host Nathan Latka interviews Enrico Casati, co-founder and CEO of Velasca, exploring how the direct-to-consumer Italian footwear company scaled to 1.6 million euros in revenue by disrupting traditional luxury markups and optimizing unit economics.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 41.5% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 3.5 Guest teaching 2.0 Guest disagreement 0.8 Nathan pushing back 1.5
05100:0010:0020:001:12–6:48 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Preview of Upcoming Episode Featuring Andy Lerling Nathan introduces the direct-to-consumer shoe brand Velasca and digs into unit economics and supply chain dynamics. Enrico explains how cutting out wholesale and retail markups lets them offer luxury-equivalent footwear at half price. The tone is highly collaborative and informative.6:49–12:40 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Scaling Strategy and Marketing Budget Allocation The conversation shifts to marketing budgets, reinvestment, and customer retention metrics. Enrico shares specific metrics on customer acquisition cost and repurchase rate within six months, receiving praise from Nathan for knowing his unit metrics.12:40–16:47 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Product Sales Volume, Revenue Milestones, and Ad Channels Nathan drills into historical revenue numbers from 2013 to 2016 and queries which ad channels work. Enrico explains why story-driven visual Facebook ads outperform direct keyword search advertising for brand building.16:49–20:21 · Nathan as informed peer 0/10 Mid-Roll Sponsorship: Maximizing Interview Efficiency with Acuity This segment contains a mid-roll ad read for Acuity Scheduling followed by standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions and outro summary. There is no host pushback or conflict.1:12–6:48 · Guest teaching 3/10 Preview of Upcoming Episode Featuring Andy Lerling Nathan introduces the direct-to-consumer shoe brand Velasca and digs into unit economics and supply chain dynamics. Enrico explains how cutting out wholesale and retail markups lets them offer luxury-equivalent footwear at half price. The tone is highly collaborative and informative.6:49–12:40 · Guest teaching 2/10 Scaling Strategy and Marketing Budget Allocation The conversation shifts to marketing budgets, reinvestment, and customer retention metrics. Enrico shares specific metrics on customer acquisition cost and repurchase rate within six months, receiving praise from Nathan for knowing his unit metrics.12:40–16:47 · Guest teaching 2/10 Product Sales Volume, Revenue Milestones, and Ad Channels Nathan drills into historical revenue numbers from 2013 to 2016 and queries which ad channels work. Enrico explains why story-driven visual Facebook ads outperform direct keyword search advertising for brand building.16:49–20:21 · Guest teaching 1/10 Mid-Roll Sponsorship: Maximizing Interview Efficiency with Acuity This segment contains a mid-roll ad read for Acuity Scheduling followed by standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions and outro summary. There is no host pushback or conflict.1:12–6:48 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Preview of Upcoming Episode Featuring Andy Lerling Nathan introduces the direct-to-consumer shoe brand Velasca and digs into unit economics and supply chain dynamics. Enrico explains how cutting out wholesale and retail markups lets them offer luxury-equivalent footwear at half price. The tone is highly collaborative and informative.6:49–12:40 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Scaling Strategy and Marketing Budget Allocation The conversation shifts to marketing budgets, reinvestment, and customer retention metrics. Enrico shares specific metrics on customer acquisition cost and repurchase rate within six months, receiving praise from Nathan for knowing his unit metrics.12:40–16:47 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Product Sales Volume, Revenue Milestones, and Ad Channels Nathan drills into historical revenue numbers from 2013 to 2016 and queries which ad channels work. Enrico explains why story-driven visual Facebook ads outperform direct keyword search advertising for brand building.16:49–20:21 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Mid-Roll Sponsorship: Maximizing Interview Efficiency with Acuity This segment contains a mid-roll ad read for Acuity Scheduling followed by standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions and outro summary. There is no host pushback or conflict.1:12–6:48 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Preview of Upcoming Episode Featuring Andy Lerling Nathan introduces the direct-to-consumer shoe brand Velasca and digs into unit economics and supply chain dynamics. Enrico explains how cutting out wholesale and retail markups lets them offer luxury-equivalent footwear at half price. The tone is highly collaborative and informative.6:49–12:40 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Scaling Strategy and Marketing Budget Allocation The conversation shifts to marketing budgets, reinvestment, and customer retention metrics. Enrico shares specific metrics on customer acquisition cost and repurchase rate within six months, receiving praise from Nathan for knowing his unit metrics.12:40–16:47 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Product Sales Volume, Revenue Milestones, and Ad Channels Nathan drills into historical revenue numbers from 2013 to 2016 and queries which ad channels work. Enrico explains why story-driven visual Facebook ads outperform direct keyword search advertising for brand building.16:49–20:21 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Mid-Roll Sponsorship: Maximizing Interview Efficiency with Acuity This segment contains a mid-roll ad read for Acuity Scheduling followed by standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions and outro summary. There is no host pushback or conflict.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 70.3% · guest 29.7%0:00 · Nathan 70.3% · guest 29.7%3:00 · Nathan 22.7% · guest 77.3%3:00 · Nathan 22.7% · guest 77.3%6:00 · Nathan 20.3% · guest 79.7%6:00 · Nathan 20.3% · guest 79.7%9:00 · Nathan 17.8% · guest 82.2%9:00 · Nathan 17.8% · guest 82.2%12:00 · Nathan 32.3% · guest 67.7%12:00 · Nathan 32.3% · guest 67.7%15:00 · Nathan 54.7% · guest 45.3%15:00 · Nathan 54.7% · guest 45.3%18:00 · Nathan 63.3% · guest 36.7%18:00 · Nathan 63.3% · guest 36.7%21:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%21:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 16:06 Differentiating keyword search from brand advertising

In a very polite episode, Enrico mildly pushes back against standard keyword search ad strategies, clarifying that direct search doesn't work for direct-to-consumer discovery brands.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 14:38 Nathan clarifies gross versus net revenue figures

Nathan interrupts and presses Enrico to explicitly distinguish whether the 60k first-year figure represents top-line revenue or net profit.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 5:25 Explaining luxury shoe retail markups

Enrico breaks down traditional distribution tiers, detailing brand markups, distributor cuts, and retail layers to educate Nathan on why retail shoes cost 400 euros.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 6:25 Nathan computes gross margins and unit economics

Nathan quickly runs the mental math on the spot, converting euro figures to dollar pricing and determining the 50% gross margin baseline.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Preview of Upcoming Episode Featuring Andy Lerling 5312 Nathan introduces the direct-to-consumer shoe brand Velasca and digs into unit economics and supply chain dynamics. Enrico explains how cutting out wholesale and retail markups lets them offer luxury-equivalent footwear at half price. The tone is highly collaborative and informative.
Scaling Strategy and Marketing Budget Allocation 5212 The conversation shifts to marketing budgets, reinvestment, and customer retention metrics. Enrico shares specific metrics on customer acquisition cost and repurchase rate within six months, receiving praise from Nathan for knowing his unit metrics.
Product Sales Volume, Revenue Milestones, and Ad Channels 4212 Nathan drills into historical revenue numbers from 2013 to 2016 and queries which ad channels work. Enrico explains why story-driven visual Facebook ads outperform direct keyword search advertising for brand building.
Mid-Roll Sponsorship: Maximizing Interview Efficiency with Acuity 0100 This segment contains a mid-roll ad read for Acuity Scheduling followed by standard Famous Five rapid-fire questions and outro summary. There is no host pushback or conflict.

Statements from this episode (12)

Disclosure
Velasca raises €750k in VC equity round
“We had 750,000 euros in in in a VC round, which is considered like a series A here, but it's probably like a seed investment in in the U S.”
Enrico Casati Mar 19, 2017 ▶ 2:38
Disclosure
Velasca sells the Artista boot for 179 euros
“It sells for one 79 euros which is around like what is it? One 85 US dollars.”
Enrico Casati Mar 19, 2017 ▶ 4:34
Opinion
Casati: Velasca matches Allen Edmonds quality at half the price
“If you used to buying Allen Edmonds or church, you're getting the same product, sometimes even a better quality product, because I know like we source the materials from the same suppliers or even a higher quality materials from other suppliers and you're gett…”
Enrico Casati Mar 19, 2017 ▶ 4:49
Disclosure
Velasca's Artista boot costs around 80 euros to make
“It's around 80 euros. It depends if we pay, like, right at the delivery, or if we try to extend it for a 60 day payment. But it's around 80 euros.”
Enrico Casati Mar 19, 2017 ▶ 5:34
Insight
Casati: Traditional shoe retail stacks a 2x brand and 2.5x retail markup
“At the very least, usually you get a two times markup from the brand plus a 2.5 from the retail. So we basically skipping at least one passage.”
Enrico Casati Mar 19, 2017 ▶ 6:05
Disclosure
Casati: Velasca spends 20% to 25% of budget on marketing
“Typically we can spend 20, 25% of the budget on marketing just because we want to, you know, grow three, four, five times year over year.”
Enrico Casati Mar 19, 2017 ▶ 7:01
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Casati: Velasca has served around 15,000 lifetime customers
“Around 15,000, more or less.”
Enrico Casati Mar 19, 2017 ▶ 9:55
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Casati: Velasca's average cart value is around $210
“In U S dollars, it would be around 210. So it's a bit more than the one pair of shoes. 1.3, I would say.”
Enrico Casati Mar 19, 2017 ▶ 10:17
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Casati: One-third of Velasca customers repurchase within six months
“Within the first six months, that's the, one of the best statistics that we have, one third of customers buy again.”
Enrico Casati Mar 19, 2017 ▶ 10:51
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Casati: Velasca spends around 50 euros on customer acquisition
“We calculated around, we spent around 50 50 euros per per customer acquisition, you know, the cost of acquiring a customer”
Enrico Casati Mar 19, 2017 ▶ 11:50
Assertion Supported
Casati: Velasca grew revenue from 60k euros in year one to 1.6M in 2016
“We made 60,000 euros the first year, 200,000 the second year and a million our third year. And we're actually due to fiscal reasons, like we used to close our fiscal year at the end of March, but this year we changed it. So we closed it at the end of December.…”
Enrico Casati Mar 19, 2017 ▶ 14:00
Prediction Held up
Casati: Velasca aims to reach 4 million euros in revenue within 18 months
“Our goal is to reach for within 18 months.”
Enrico Casati Mar 19, 2017 ▶ 15:23
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