00:57:31 · Giuseppe Balzano
[00:57:31] S1: So I have shares in the company. I invested some capital. My... Like, my my last penny is the whole year. If my partner is listening, that's not true. But, yeah, I think 99.5% of my wealth is in this company. And then I negotiated a mechanism that is linked to the results of the company. So in the future, if and when we do some liquidity, I will have some sort of incentive. Then the question is, what happens if we don't do liquidity? But we will see in the future. For now, the the the incentive is this. I have... I am a minority shareholder, so I'm I'm I'm I'm not in charge of the company. I'm not the controlling shareholder. I I also have two seats out of five in the board. So, technically, I can be outvoted in in the board. Still, I think this is a deeply personal company and challenge. I I want to do this, and I will make it. So I think it must be clear to investors and and partners in general that this is an investment in me as a person and the story I'd like to make out of this. You know? And some people will just not invest because they don't like me, which is which is fine. I'm not a public company, and people are not trading me, so I don't have any compliance things. Most of the investment is on me. So the upside, the incentive, is exclusively on the results of the company based on the value of the company, of course. Then I didn't get any salary for the last two years and a half, which must be put on top of the investment that I I invested. And now there's a salary. There is a market standard salary, nothing premium. It's the cost the holding will bear if they decide to find another CEO. I think it's less than that, but it's more or less a market standard salary that they proposed me, the the the board members, and I accepted. So, yeah, this is how I do it. I think the most difficult part of your question is more how do we incentivize the team? Because, again, I decided to be here for thirty years. Maybe someone wants to join for two years, three years, five years. How do we make sure that the incentives are aligned? And that is a topic for another big discussion. It's very difficult. Yes.
01:00:04 · Mikk
[01:00:04] S0: Because maybe maybe this guy is extreme talent, you know, would...
01:00:08 · Giuseppe Balzano
[01:00:08] S1: Yeah. It's always the same. You find the smartest kid in the room, okay, it's always the same, and this guy, sooner or later, will find something different to do. Could be his own company, could be another, you know, employer with better terms, it could be they decide to go to Australia and never come back, you know, it could be everything. And it's always been despite the skills around, you know, and and so you have to find a way. Of course, the incentive cannot be based on the thirty years skill. Like, it's either you find a cofounder or not. So we decided to do a different approach, which is an yearly review of some specific goals that we that we have as a team and as a specific, you know, single individual in the company. And and they have... It's a constellation inspired kind of mechanism. They earn some cash, but that cash must be go... Part of that must be an investment in the holding company. And we convert, you know, the cash bonus per year in the in the equity of of the holding. I'm happy with that because, you know, if they decide to have a transfer... Like, imagine being the employee. You receive 20 k, and then you have to make the transfer back because you're buying 10 k worth of shares. Duff. It's Christmas. Your family wants to have presents. You know, you want to do some mountain ski, and you have 20 k. You decide to invest 10 k in your company. It's psychological again. So I decided to have this kind of mechanism in the in the company. And, of course, you know, people will live in the future. It's healthy. We will find new people, and hopefully, the mechanism will be the same. Then maybe something that will change in the future is what happens if someone becomes the head of a business unit? Maybe they are in charge of a team. Maybe we spin off, you know, some sort of business unit, you know, that which is still in the holding, but they have an autonomy of deploying capital. That is another question and another challenge. But for now, it's just me and two analysts. It's it's it's not it's it's not given. You know? In in the future, I think in the next year, these two people, first of all, started with me as a junior people. Now they have a lot of responsibilities, a lot. Like, one is completely in charge of finance. One is completely in charge of scouting. Okay?
01:02:34 · Giuseppe Balzano, Mikk
So I hope I hope these people will go higher and higher, you know, in the in the in the ladder. On the other side, it's clear that we will find someone that can be join... Can join the company, and we will change maybe the way we face the issue. But for me, for us, for the board, this is one of the most important topics. I would say even more important than the scouting engine, because companies are there. You just have to find them, but companies are there. Finding talents is difficult. Finding talents in Italy is more difficult because all my colleagues decided to leave for other countries. Decide... Finding someone that is Italian in Italy, or maybe not Italian, but willing to be in Italy for the long term. [01:03:20] S0: Tough, but you gotta be optimistic because you you Yeah. [01:03:23] S1: Of course. [01:03:23] S0: With this with with this episode as well, I think you're putting out extremely strong message. And there might be this one another crazy Italian with his extremely long term view on on on business and and life.
01:03:38 · Giuseppe Balzano
[01:03:38] S1: And I'm looking for out... Guys, I'm looking for outsiders. So I know it's it's difficult, but an outsider is someone that is unemployable. Like, if you have a case for me which is unemployable, like, it's impossible, people will see... Will think that you are a smart person, That is my sweet spot. I like to hire people that have a story, they they have defeats, they have something to win, they're doing they're doing something for someone or for for themselves. They are hungry, you know, they're motivated. That is my sweet spot. I don't care about anything else. It's... Yeah. Okay. You have twenty years of experience of play by table d. Of course, you know, you're you're more senior than me, and and you know more than me. Of course. Still, in the way I think, you're not gonna help me. We need someone that can do the extra mile. And this is applicable also to investors. If I put together all my investors, they... They're all entrepreneurs. They are GPs of private equity. They're entrepreneurs. They're not financials. There is only one, maybe. But there is a story behind. You know? And and I like to have this builder mentality because we are building something. So it's important to have the first 20 employees or 20 partners or 20 investors to be builders. I can call these people and say, guys, it doesn't work anything. Like, we we are failing. And these people will not say fuck. They will say, okay. I'm gonna help you. You know, let's sit on the table. Let's do it together. You know? This is the kind of mentality I'm looking for, not just in the team, also, you know, in the ecosystem.
01:05:11 · Mikk
[01:05:11] S0: Again, you're young. You have this very, very different approach. How would you like to title this episode? Like, just an an idea. What what is it you're building? How would you like to title it?