Lorenzo Zappino & Mercè Tell - Erasmus entrepreneurs

Success stories

Recent testimonies of successful business networking - Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme

This is merely a selection of our success stories.
Want to see more testimonies? Use our search function »

 







New entrepreneur:
Lorenzo Zappino (Italy)
Age: 23
Company name: (Start-up)
Sector of activity: Legal, fiscal and other consultancy services


''Working with Mercè has been a truly transformative experience. Beyond the valuable technical skills I developed I gained something even more meaningful: a new mindset. I’m deeply grateful for this opportunity.''


Host entrepreneur:
Mercè Tell (Spain)
Age: 47
Company name: Encomenda Capital Partners SGEIC SA / www.encomenda.com (9 years of experience)
Sector of activity: Financial and insurance services

''The experience of hosting Lorenzo has been fantastic. He has contributed to our activities with valuable input and a different perspective. I have enjoyed discussing brainstorming and analysing his project in detail which I have seen grow during his time in Barcelona!"


Period of exchange: 01/2025 until 05/2025
Duration of exchange: 4,5 Months

 

Results and benefits

 

1 new company created
1 new country reached
1 new country reached
1 new contact
Innovation, consultancy

 

 

Lorenzo Zappino, New Entrepreneur,  is developing a highly scalable service providing legal assistance for startups, focusing on contract drafting and management. Many entrepreneurs struggle with complex topics such as special equity rights, different equity-sharing methods, and key legal tools, and while professional services exist, lawyers, accountants, and notaries are often too costly for early-stage founders. Lorenzo applied to the EYE programme to connect with mentors who could help him refine his idea, gain hands-on business development experience, and build a balanced mix of managerial and technical skills—this is how he met his host entrepreneur, Mercè Tell.

Mercè runs Encomenda, a venture capital firm founded and managed by entrepreneurs, dedicated to helping portfolio companies grow. She joined the programme to engage with innovative SMEs, meet passionate entrepreneurs with global ambitions, and explore new networking opportunities to scale up. This shared vision is what led them both to participate in the programme.



 



Lorenzo  and the Mercè were able to gain in-depth experience in the real workflow of a venture capital firm: they carried out market analyses of the startup ecosystem, identifying potential investment and partnership opportunities; focused on evaluating and assessing business models and growth potential; and conducted interviews, organized calls, and prepared deal reports summarizing all relevant information for potential investments.

The NE collaborated with the selection team to identify top candidates while also receiving support in refining his business model and value proposition through interviews with several startups and organizations. On the technical side, the NE worked on building the entire UX/UI and all the essential tools that will form part of his service portfolio for early-stage startups.






Lorenzo showed clear improvement in team management skills, gathering customer discovery insights, understanding his product’s ideal client, and updating the pricing strategy, thanks to the host’s advice. He redesigned his Pitch Deck with more meaningful slides and developed an MVP by automating equity conversion, enhancing the task management platform, and automating document creation. 
He also had the opportunity to work on the UX/UI and educational content of the platform. Lorenzo successfully found a CTO for the project and launched his first pilot with an Italian startup in Torino. He was also able to identify new partners and stakeholders in Italy through comparative research supported by Mercè. In return, Mercè gained fresh insights, research, and new networking opportunities through their collaboration.



For more information, please contact the local contact points involved in the exchange:

New entrepreneur's contact point:
MICROFINANZA SRL (Vicenza, Italy)

Host entrepreneur's contact point:
CAMBRA OFICIAL DE COMERC I INDUSTRIA DE TERRASSA (Terrassa, Spain)

« Back to the overview