The engineer’s obsession

Before he was a founder, Enrico was a mechanical engineer and a venture capitalist. He spent years on the other side of the table, watching high-potential startups fail. Not for lack of technology, but for lack of execution.

"I used to be a basketball player," Enrico says, "and I’m super passionate about building stuff. If you want to hire an engineer, as they say, don't give them a big wage, give them a complicated problem."

In 2018, he found the ultimate problem: the Italian tax system. In a world of autonomous driving cars, Italian freelancers were still buried in manual bureaucracy. Enrico saw a badly managed industry and decided it was time to put his work where his mouth was.

Why Italy needs a piazza, not a tool

When Enrico looked at successful accounting software in the Nordics, he saw a self-service model. But he knew that wouldn't work in Italy.

"In Italy, people look for people to trust," Enrico explains. "All our cities are built around squares because people love to meet up. You build the architecture around how people want to use the city."

This insight was part of how Fiscozen was born. Instead of a DIY software, Enrico built a SaaS ecosystem. It’s a double-sided platform: on one side, solopreneurs get an easy-to-use digital interface. On the other hand, tax advisors get automation tools that make them 10x more productive.

By automating the boring stuff – invoicing, tax filings, and accounting – Fiscozen allows advisors to focus on what Italians value most: the relationship and the consultancy.

A feedback culture

Moving an entire market from offline to online is a marathon that requires a specific kind of leadership.

At Fiscozen, the team does monthly 360-degree reviews for everyone.

"It’s a big effort," Enrico admits, "but it keeps us all aligned with our mission."

This adherence to constant feedback, within product development as well as employees, is what allowed Fiscozen to scale to 45,000+ customers while maintaining a culture of high ownership.

Enter Visma

When Visma approached Fiscozen, Enrico was sceptical. He feared a large investor would want to mess with the vision. Instead, he found a partner who understood his philosophy of maintaining a local soul.

"Visma told us that we’re the ones who know the market,” Enrico recalls. "It almost felt too good to be true, but that's exactly what happened. We got the resources of a giant, and received help to keep building the way we believed was best."

Building for the long run

Today, Fiscozen owns about 1.3% of the Italian market. For Enrico, the journey is just beginning. He didn't just build a software company. He built a digital piazza, a place where technology clears the path so that humans can do what they do best: connect.

"We didn't build this to grow a valuation," Enrico says. "We built this to grow a company that makes life easier for our clients.”