Startup Obituary : Refolo

Lessons from an Entrepreneurial Journey Marked by a Failure to Understand Customer Needs

Author

Ram Gangisetty
February 08, 2025

Refolo was a São Paulo-based startup founded in 2022 by Lola Ojabowale with the goal of making plant-based eating both accessible and culturally resonant. Inspired by her father’s health challenges and the transformative power of dietary change, Refolo aimed to deliver personalized, plant-based meal plans that enabled individuals to enjoy traditional, meat-included dishes in a vegan or vegetarian form.

Product and Services

  • Customizable Meal Plans: Refolo offered tailored meal plans designed to meet users’ specific dietary preferences. The plans featured plant-based recipes that emphasized both taste and nutritional value.

  • Shoppable Recipes: Beyond just meal planning, the platform allowed users to order ingredients directly through integrated services such as Instacart or Amazon Prime, making healthy eating more convenient.

  • Subscription Model: Users could subscribe for a monthly fee of $15 to access the full suite of meal planning services.

  • Technology Stack: The initial version of Refolo evolved from a simple Coda document into a more sophisticated app built using Bubble, showcasing an iterative and lean approach to product development.

Business Journey and Outcome

  • Early Development: The startup was developed on a modest budget, with Lola investing only a few thousand dollars in hosting, events, and conferences. Refolo’s development journey exemplified a hands-on, iterative approach using accessible no-code platforms.

  • Challenges in Market Fit: Despite a promising concept that targeted the growing interest in plant-based diets, Refolo struggled with a poor maker/problem fit. The service failed to capture a large audience, as potential customers did not perceive enough value to commit to a paid subscription.

  • Monetization and Traction: With limited revenue generation and a slow-growing user base, Refolo was unable to scale its operations. After two years of operation and insufficient market traction, Lola ultimately decided to shut down the venture.

Lessons Learned

  • Market Research and Community Building: Lola later emphasized the importance of deeply understanding community needs and building a dedicated user base before fully committing to product development.

  • Experimentation Over Commitment: The Refolo experience highlighted the need for extensive experimentation in early-stage ventures. A more flexible approach, with iterative testing and validation, might have provided clearer insights into what consumers truly valued.

  • Sustainable Business Model: Even innovative ideas must be underpinned by a business model that aligns with consumer willingness to pay. In Refolo’s case, the niche focus on plant-based meal planning did not resonate sufficiently with the target market.

Refolo’s Scorecard 📋

Dimension 

Score 

Reasoning

Product-Market Fit

1/5

While the idea of culturally relevant plant-based meal planning had potential, it failed to gain strong traction or a dedicated paying audience.

USP

3/5

Refolo’s focus on plant-based adaptations of traditional meals was unique, but it lacked deep differentiation from free online meal-planning resources.

Timing

4/5

The plant-based movement was growing, but Refolo’s approach struggled to align with consumer behavior, as many users were unwilling to pay for a subscription service.

Founder Fit

4/5

Lola Ojabowale’s personal experience and passion for healthy eating were strong assets, but deeper validation of community needs might have improved execution.

Team (Execution)

3/5

Successfully built and launched using no-code tools, but the monetization and scalability strategy were not well-defined, limiting long-term viability.

Conclusion 🎯

Refolo’s journey serves as a cautionary tale for startups in the competitive meal planning and health tech space. Despite a compelling mission to make plant-based diets accessible and culturally meaningful, Refolo ultimately struggled with market fit, monetization, and scaling challenges. Notably, while the concept was innovative, it did not incorporate advanced AI-based services, relying instead on manually curated, culturally inspired content and no-code development tools. The lessons from Refolo remind entrepreneurs of the importance of thorough market validation, iterative experimentation, and the need to build a sustainable, scalable business model before fully committing to a niche idea.

I hope Refolo’s journey will inspire you as a founder of not just health and food industry but in any to start with customer research and solve for a problem that group of people are waiting for.

It took a lot of time and effort in researching and writing about Refolo. I hope you show your appreciation by forwarding this to a friend or sharing on your social channels to help founders from making same mistakes.

Cheers,

Ram

👉 My simple ask: It took hours to put together this post for you. I hope you forward this email to at least one founder friend or share on your social channels 🙏.

Startup Obituary is for educational purpose only not a business advice.

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