00:04:55 · Giuseppe Balzano
[00:04:55] S1: Yeah. Yeah. It it... It's it's more. You know? It's more. Of course, you you learn from people, and the the younger you meet these people or you learn from other people, the better or the more they shape you. On the other side, I think there is a component of nature, you know, and how how you... How you're done, how you think. You know, I still have my investments I did when I was 15, 16 in the public market. You know, I still have those shitty and sorry for the world companies. You know, I like to own. It's it's also in relationships. You know? I think I I think I told you, you know, if if you find a good wife and you like your wife, why should you change your wife? You know? This is something I still think sometimes. Maybe it's my Italian angle jumping in. But but honestly, that, you know, that mentor is a successful entrepreneur, and I saw him in a meeting. It was clear that he knew something more than other people. Or maybe it was just me. It was a super junior, you know, not knowing anything about anything. Sawing this guy, knowing the truth, you know, of things. And I I I got curious. I got curious, and I get stout. You know, I explained what I wanted to do. Mhmm. That was eight years ago. So I wanted to do something different. Not now. And I can explain, of course. But this idea of building my own company for the future of of myself, you know, and then my family has been with myself, you know, ever, I think. So that guy, I think, was just a way for putting together thoughts and having a a... You know, an example to follow. And then from there, you know, this guy is still here. He's he's he's investing in in my company. He's an important governance member. So it's a person that I'm still learning from in some way. So I don't know if that... If the answer was was enough, but I think it's not... There's not there's not just one thing happening or just one meeting that says, oh, yeah. This is the answer. You know? It's more than that. It's a it's a long term kind of relationship, you know, lunch and dinner and, you know, other meetings, and you see... Also, you see how this person is behaving with other people, with other shareholders, with other investors, with other partners, you know, and and you make the case as an example for you to follow. I think this is what happened in my case.
00:07:19 · Mikk
[00:07:19] S0: And when was the time that now is the right moment, now is the right time to do it? Because you have interesting background use. You can share it yourself, but there was... You were around Family Office Capital, but then you also... You were a GP of a VC fund. So maybe you can give a quick background on how it all got started.
00:07:37 · Giuseppe Balzano
[00:07:37] S1: It's easy. And sorry for bay... So for being straight and and, you know, as the French will say. I I just got sick of it. You know? That that that that kind of positions are intermediaries. You know? They are middlemen. You are earning the trust and putting the trust in someone else, you know, in some way. Hopefully, you're making some some money in the in the in the between, but you were not in charge of anything. You're in charge of finding deals. You're in charge of finding family offices. You're in charge of finding, you know, LPs maybe for the fund. But you're not building anything. You know? You're not a key man, you know, person that is the face of an... A successful, you know, entrepreneurial business. So I think what changed is I was turning 30. I was 29, almost 30, and I was ready. I was... I I wanted to do something on my own, you know, and building something for the future as a company. Don't get me wrong. You know, I was I was doing a fund. You know, I was doing other deals with with syndications and several asset classes, private equity, venture capital, real estate, and so on. I was investing... I'm investing my own money in the public market, but you're not leaving a legacy. You're just, you know, making more money, maybe, hopefully hopefully. Maybe you're buying a better house. You're you're buying a boat in the future. But I think at one point, I just said there is more than that. You know? And and the idea, again, is very psychological. It's not I want to make 1,000,000,000, or I want to do 50 deals. It's not that. It's more, you know, let... Let's make it. You know? Maybe in the future, we will see... We will be seen as the the most important industrial group in Italy and maybe in Europe. You know? That is more powerful and and something that drives me more. You know? And the only way to do that is to to build a company. This is this is what happened. I think I just, you know, reflected. Sometimes, you know, it's important to do so.
00:09:49 · Mikk
[00:09:49] S0: And what is the thesis, and why this thesis?
00:09:51 · Giuseppe Balzano
[00:09:51] S1: It's a mix of things. I'm an engineer. So my, you know, my my background is in studying how complex systems and and products and components behave when put together. I did my, you know, my my master thesis and my research period at UC Berkeley, and it was, you know, in the in the field of mechatronics and and control automation. So I like to play with components, with stuff. And, also, I think it's not just a founder fit. You know? It's also a geography fit. Italy, maybe you don't know or some listeners don't know, but we used to be the fifth economic power in the world. You know? We're not that now, but it's not it's not like in the seventies or eighties. And the large majority of that is not serious. Italy is famous for Portofino, Orgoma, Venezia, and so on. We used to be the the second, I think, industrial powerhouse in in in Europe. And and and that less... That that kind of stuff left a legacy. Maybe some companies decided to to leave. Some famous companies decided to leave or to shut down because of the Asian competition sometimes. But there are supply chains. There are SMEs that for the last forty, fifty years have been doing something very good. They are experts maybe in a in a given niche, and maybe, you know, the client is not another Italian industrial company, but could be, I don't know, a North European or a Canadian or an Australian or an Asian company, you know, you still do something very well. So I think what happened is I found the right spot for for myself. I was not living in Italy, so I decided to come back and and do what they call a self funded search. You know? That was the the original idea. You know? Let's buy one company, and let's see what happens. You know? Then I, you know, I just noticed that there were too many companies. This year, we saw 1,300 companies, and just me and one analyst, you know, so he is not a big fan. You know? It's a it's a small team. So that's when I said, well, you know, I can put together my competencies, my background. As an investor, I always and only invested in other industrial or deep tech, you know, solutions. I like to leave you the IP. So maybe Italy is the best spot. And surprisingly, there is no one in Italy doing so for now. Maybe in the future, they will all come. But for now, you know, the competition is not there.
00:12:29 · Mikk
[00:12:29] S0: Before we go, I wanna talk about the cofounder part because that's that's interesting as well. It's hard to find a cofounder for a individual like yourself who plays such a long game. What do you consume in these days? Because if you if you look on X, if you read news, if you whatever you do, it's it's it's so often just quick, quick, quick, fast, fast, fast. But I'm trying to read a lot some some things from 1980s, 1970s, 1990s. There were... It seemed like there were much more patience back then. What an individual like yourself with this extremely long long term hold go focus, what do you consume?