Passionate about Innovation, Alessandro is an entrepreneur in the marketing sector. In this interview we will discover his background and what it means to join a network of business angels.
Alessandro, we are very pleased to interview you. You are one of the youngest Business
Angels in the network. Why did you choose to join Italian Angels for Growth?
A good question, I think essentially for two reasons. First, I have always been passionate about marketing, innovation, new technologies and investments. When the time finally came for me to invest in this sector, it was natural to look at those who had already been doing it for some time and successfully.
I did not want to follow a "homemade" approach, as I do not find it profitable and not only in strictly economic terms.
Secondly, I thought that joining a network like IAG would allow me to have the opportunity to compare myself with other entrepreneurs, investors, and managers with more experience in various fields and so it was.
What is your background? Was there a significant event in your academic and professional journey that got you hooked on the start-up world?
My background and education grew almost exclusively through practice in the field. After completing a technical high school, I immediately turned to what was and still is one of my main passions and activities: marketing.
I started by creating a small, generic marketing agency. As it grew, I specialized in "direct marketing," or numbers-based marketing, which helped me understand the metrics and different approaches that underlie the successful business models of various companies. What works and what does not.
Unquestionably, every good idea must go through marketing and numbers at some point and having a key to understanding that excites me.
Over the years, while doing this activity, I have met several start-ups. Teams with great ideas, with a desire to grow and do things well. So, several times I lent myself to support these realities, marrying the idea through a performance agreement, again, based on results.
This allowed me to know better the world of start-ups, catching unique features and opportunities.
It has been more than two years since you joined Italian Angels for Growth. What
are the values that the community is adding to your persona?
Joining IAG has been a blender. I would not know it any other way. I had the opportunity to meet people with great values and enlightening, with whom I shared some moments even outside the "walls" of the association. Every moment of sharing, screening and life of the association is for me a moment of growth.
I am thrilled to participate in the screening sessions in which members discuss the most diverse topics by analysing risks and opportunities of deals, sharing their experiences. It is a constant source of inspiration.
These insights have often helped me to unlock or prevent critical moments in my companies. I can only be satisfied and suggest the same experience to those who are constantly looking for stimulating environments.
You have decided to reinvest the proceeds of your activities in start-ups, how would you split the speculative goal from the interest in staying up to date on global innovation trends?
I find that both goals, through investing in start-ups, can converge to the point of being perfectly complementary. This is because often the mere fact of analysing a new investment in start-ups is at the same time an opportunity to study, deepen, discover, and subsequently stay updated on a new market.
What sectors do you see as the hottest in terms of "need for disruption" right now?
Certainly, influenced by what is my business and my young age, I look with particular interest at sectors concerning the world of blockchain, cloud computing, cybersecurity, internet of things.... I especially observe how these can come to innovate despite also fitting into more historically traditional sectors.
Plans for future.
Leaving aside the growth of my activities, on which my main efforts are focused since a few weeks I have been covering the role of managing director in a start-up investment vehicle '101 holding'. This represents an opportunity that will allow me to be even closer and more internal to this world. I am also thinking about a new international experience... who knows!