Why Yeet's Franchise Push Is Spending R$50,000 a Month Without Converting
Brazilian e-commerce platform Yeet has a working business model — franchisees sell and it handles logistics, packaging, storage, dispatch and returns — yet it is struggling to sell that model to investors. The company became a franchise three months ago, spends about R$50,000 a month on trade fairs and paid traffic, and still is not converting prospects into franchisees.
That was the diagnosis delivered by João Adibe Marques, CEO of pharmaceutical group Cimed, during a mentoring session for the Exame program Choque de Gestão. Yeet was founded by Wagner Piva and posted revenue of R$7.5 million last year. The operation now runs from a three-story warehouse in São Paulo's Zona Norte, employs 22 people and stocks more than 1,900 products, most imported from China. Since January, the company has brought in ten franchisees — six migrated from its old base and four new sales.
Piva's core difficulty, he told Adibe, is attracting franchisees: “The biggest difficulty is bringing this franchisee into our base.” Adibe's response was that Yeet is trying to sell the franchise before it can answer a more basic question: who is the final customer?
Where the Yeet Model Breaks: Unknown Buyer, Missing Founder, Thin Margins
The Missing Piece: Yeet Cannot Name Its Shopper
Adibe did not start the mentoring session with acquisition. He started with the product and asked who actually buys the items Yeet sells. The founder could not give a clear answer. That, in the mentor's view, is where franchise sales stall: if a franchisee does not know who the end consumer is, they do not know what to advertise or to whom. Of the 1,900 items, roughly 20 to 30 per category form the “A curve” — the highest-turnover group, which also carries the lowest margin.
Founder Visibility: A Zero-Cost Fix That Requires Showing Up
The second issue was personal. Piva has worked with the internet since 2010 and holds a master's degree in the field, yet his digital presence is close to zero. The company's TikTok is not used by him and its Instagram has low reach. “I almost never appear,” he said. Adibe framed this as a cost problem: trade fairs are expensive, while posting daily about what the company is doing costs nothing but attitude. He cited Cimed's own shift from trade-focused communication to direct-to-consumer conversation, with the CEO as spokesperson. “You follow companies? You follow people,” Adibe said. “A product without a face doesn't sell.”
Geographic Concentration and the Cost-to-Serve Trap
Adibe also pointed to geographic concentration. Yeet's base is in the South and Southeast, and its communication follows that concentration, without a portfolio adapted by region. He warned about a cost that often escapes e-commerce operators: in many cases, the cost to serve exceeds the product margin. His suggested fix was to reduce each franchisee's coverage area to shorten delivery distances and protect profitability.
Slow Down and Polish the First Franchisees
Rather than multiplying units, Adibe recommended slowing expansion and filtering who enters, turning the first franchisees into case studies that support future sales. “Treat this person who bought as a diamond to be polished,” he said, noting that franchisees invest their own capital and the network only grows if they profit. Yeet's franchisee margins run around 15% free, with no fixed pricing and no guarantee in the contract. Piva left the session with one decision: “We discovered that people buy from people. I'm going to have to show up. There's no escaping that.”
Editor's note: This analysis is based on statements made during the mentoring session as reported by Exame and reflects Adibe's assessment, not an independent audit of Yeet's operations.
What Wagner Piva Must Fix Before Selling More Franchises
- Define the shopper first: Before spending more on franchise acquisition, Yeet should identify who buys its A-curve items and document the buyer profile for each category, so franchisees know what to advertise and to whom.
- Make the founder visible: Piva should start appearing daily on the company's TikTok and Instagram without additional ad spend; Cimed's own CEO-led communication shift is the stated model.
- Protect franchisee margins: Re-examine delivery areas and consider shrinking each franchisee's territory to reduce the cost to serve, which Adibe says can exceed product margins in e-commerce.
- Slow franchise expansion: Filter candidates for cultural fit rather than chasing volume, and turn the first sold franchises into profitable case studies that support the pitch for the next ones.
Risk & Opportunity Assessment
| Commercial Risk | Medium | Yeet is spending R$50,000 a month on franchise acquisition without converting, and the cost-to-serve can exceed product margins in e-commerce, directly threatening franchisee profitability and network growth. |
| Competitive Risk | Medium | Without a clear end-consumer definition or regionally adapted portfolio, Yeet's franchisees may struggle to differentiate in a crowded Brazilian e-commerce market, especially against sellers with stronger brand recognition. |
| Regulatory Risk | Low | No regulatory issues were identified in the story; the main constraints are operational and commercial. |
| Reputation Risk | Medium | Wagner Piva's near-zero digital presence means the brand lacks a public face, making it harder to build trust with prospective franchisees and consumers. |
| Technology Disruption | Low | Yeet's dropshipping-style model relies on imported goods and logistics; the risk here is operational execution rather than technological disruption. |
| Commercial Opportunity | Medium | The franchisee model has already generated R$15 million in sales this year with only ten franchisees, showing demand exists if conversion and training improve. |
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