Place of residence: Italy

Position: Chief Marketing Officer at Stealth – Co-Founder Health Virtuoso

Please describe a day in your life

There are few certainties in my day. It consists of a mix of defined slots where I work and interface with the 4-5 companies I follow, advisory hours, and variability depending on the needs of individual projects. Then there is sport, in the middle or at the end of the day, to maintain a balance and focus outside the work sphere, and moments dedicated to study and reading. In addition, once every two days, I do a one-on-one with a person or a professional I don’t know.

How many projects are you currently working on? Please describe them

At the moment, I am following four permanent projects, plus one part as an advisor. Each one is different, both in terms of the sector and the business field to which it relates. I made this choice last January to guarantee myself growth and a benefit that I am convinced will come over the next three years.

A company is engaged in fintech with a B2C focus, certainly stimulating as a consumer market, but today, more than ever, you have to be very focused on 360° processes and activities rather than concentrating on just one aspect. Then, I am in charge of an already structured project in B2B cybersecurity services, for which we have built a marketing team and all their communication channels from scratch. Today, even companies that have always turnover to really grow have realised the importance of combining marketing and sales with high-level professionals.

The third engagement concerns a Media Advertising company for which I manage an internal reorganisation, a review of their Go-To-Market that runs parallel to an M&A path.

In addition, I am managing the joint venture between two structured companies for the creation and market launch of a new product in the AI market in the contact centre area.

As you can guess, I am not bored.

In your opinion, who is the most influential person/company in the world of technology today?

As of today and for the next five years, I see two key figures: Jensen Huang, Chairman of NVIDIA, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. There is no doubt that we are experiencing a revolution in tools, approaches, and strategies, and the two mentioned figures manage the two most important assets.

There is room, however, for a third or other player for enablers, those who will enable, especially in the B2B sphere, the mass use and easy introduction of these technologies in the various business areas. Today, in the B2B sphere, we use ‘intelligent’ products, but companies remain more often than uniformed and drowned in the lack of clear processes or information that convey their strategy and actions.

If you could choose one application/product/project that you would like to be involved in at the moment, what would it be?

Personally, I am passionate about the aerospace world. It has implications we see little of now; we have tried to create a metaverse because it is still too expensive and difficult to reach the universe.

There are projects such as D-Orbit that, starting from Italy, have become world-class; there would be plenty of room in this sector to inform more through communication and targeted initiatives.

I remain very attached to the sports world with an entertainment focus, where I have already founded a company. Looking at numbers and budgets, it is a very challenging sector for marketers today.

What are the three characteristics you have that make you successful in tech?

One thing I can say from working in multiple sectors is that the keys to success are more straightforward than you think:

Consistency is not the amount of work but the constancy in doing, redoing, learning, and rebuilding without losing sight of the endpoint.

Learning and adapting: Understand what you do wrong, correct it, and question it again. The best things come from the pivots of ideas. Those who think they have to build a straight track run into a wall. Better a quick slalom!

Team Vision is not just team building or making everyone feel part of a goal. But doing business is very close to the sporting concept, especially in non-multinational contexts: there is belonging to the company, being part of the successes but also being excluded if you don’t help the team change radically in order to be part of it. Today, you can be the best person for that role, but if you don’t update and adapt to the rapid changes, it’s not necessarily the case that you can stay that way tomorrow.

What is the most challenging thing you have faced during your career?

I remember when I was in a YCombinator project, where in 24 months, we had opened more than ten countries with seven new languages, embedded eight country managers, and grown a marketing team from 3-4 people to more than 20. It is definitely one of the experiences that makes you realise that with method, process and the ability to make quick decisions, you go somewhere. Fortunately, it went very well, although not without obstacles; it was a learning experience.

What is the biggest obstacle to entering the world of technology?

Often, the biggest problem is simply knowing where to start. Today, we have infinitesimal technologies, capabilities, and costs compared to the past. Paradoxically, the biggest problem is knowing how to choose and have a method for carrying out projects.

What has been your greatest achievement up until today?

My prize is to have gone into each project and maximised its possibilities and the team’s capabilities behind it. You cannot always make unicorns if the project and team are not ready. You can do yourself a lot of harm if you are necessarily aiming for the moon. Many times, you simply have to realise that before you aim for the moon, there are a lot of stages in between to overcome.

What do you wish for your career?

I want to always feel challenged and to be better every day than the day before. Those who think they have arrived are usually the first to fall. I like to think I am always satisfied with where I am and look forward to pushing on to something I don’t know how to do.

What are the three most important lessons you have learned so far in your career?

The first lesson is that there are no defeats or failures, only lessons. The second is to surround yourself with people in your team, investors or network who are extremely better than you in their fields, as long as you aspire to be the best. The third rule is to cultivate curiosity and avoid verticality.

What is your next goal?

I’ve always hated mega-goals because they often make you take paths and choices that are suitable in the moment and can become forced looking into the future. If I have to give myself a goal, it is to do things that I enjoy, that allow me to relate to teams and people that stimulate me and improve the context in which I will find myself.

What tips do you have for people wanting to start in the tech world?

The best advice might be to study; the reality is that for me, the almost daily confrontation with people of different expertise, markets, and realities has been crucial. In markets and tools that now evolve at the speed of light, something you learn and study without constant comparison risks being obsolete very quickly.

If you could say something to your younger self, what would you it be?

Learn to give the right weight to the challenges in front of you, sometimes you have to give up on many things in order to benefit in the medium to long term.

What is the invention of the century in your eyes?

It would be too easy to say AI, but it has actually been around for over 60 years. Today, almost nothing is invented anymore but we adapt or rebuild something existing to new needs. So, the most impactful thing that the new century has brought is the evolution of communications. Today, there are no distances, there is no latency, and this is something that has changed our lives. Only 25 years ago, we were using faxes and letters, while with people on other continents, you talked to them with phone cards. Today, you can speak to anyone, anywhere.

What can’t you do without? (app/product…)

I’m going against the tide. We have to get into the mindset that we can do without everything. When you are autonomous and not tied to a programme or tool, you are free to change for the best solution. The only thing I wouldn’t change is probably the Health app in iOS, which is connected to my Oura Ring, Apple Watch, and the other thousand things I do. It is the only app that really impacts my daily well-being by making me aware of what I do.

Which famous person would you like to have dinner with and why?

For the particularity of the character, I could say Elon Musk, but I don’t think it would be a great dinner. I would prefer someone like Benedetto Vigna, CEO of Ferrari, not so much for his role today but for his past as an inventor and innovator. Not everyone knows that he invented the three-dimensional motion sensor we find on every iPhone. I would be curious to understand how a path like his was possible and where so many of the choices and goals he has decided to pursue come from.

Where would you like to travel next?

Excluding business trips to which I always try to accompany something useful and educational, I happily oblige myself to get out of my cultural zone at least 2-3 times a year. For me, this means visiting places far from my habits. I love Asia, which I have visited several times, but also the Middle East. For my next trip, I would like to visit Patagonia; after seeing Iceland, I was fascinated by the inhospitality and the real strength of nature that these places transmit to you.

Do you have a person who influences or motivates you?

Family in a broad sense, including friends and private affections, has always made me realise that work is part of my life but is not and should not be my life. Seeing things from the outside often makes you make decisions more decisively and free of other dynamics. Organisations are teams and, as such, must be managed, motivated, and guided.

The last thing you said to yourself was: How come nobody ever thought of that?

Practically every day but on the most trivial things. A few days ago, the last one was about a portable battery-operated coffee machine. I don’t understand its usefulness in a café world, but it seemed surprising that I hadn’t seen it before.

What is the product/service you desire that does not yet exist?

The multiplication or optimisation of time in a scientific and adaptive way to everyday life. The biggest limitation is that in 24 hours it is difficult to work at one’s best, rest, take care of oneself, cultivate personal relationships and grow as a person. This is why people seek a long life, even though it would be enough to use one’s time better and balance it according to periods.

What did you dream of creating/inventing/doing as a child?

Teleportation is undoubtedly one of the most unattainable things you could wish for, but perhaps, as a child, you had ideas that were freer from the barriers that education and experience create in these thoughts.