The Origin

Born on Ischia, a small island off Naples. Dad inspected naval shipyards, Mom raised me and my sister. Normal middle-class Italian life. My first taste of technology was an old PC with a cathode ray monitor running Windows XP. Dial-up internet, 56k modem, that strange screeching noise when it connected. I could only stay online a few minutes because it cost too much. But those few minutes opened a window to another world.

Living Between Worlds

At six, Dad's work took us to Shanghai (China) and Ulsan (South Korea). Two years living between completely different cultures. I was too young to fully understand what was happening, but old enough to absorb it. Home isn't a place, it's a feeling — I couldn't articulate that then, but I learned it. I learned to be comfortable being uncomfortable. The whole world started feeling like it could be mine.

The Fracture

My parents divorced. Mom moved me and my sister to rural Emilia Romagna in northern Italy. She started cleaning houses — whatever work she could find. Money was tight. We lived isolated in the countryside, far from other kids my age. Every summer we'd return to Ischia to stay with relatives. It was hard. But I think I needed it to be hard. That fracture gave me the hunger and resilience that shaped everything after.

The first iPhone in italy

Summer at my uncle's house. First iPhone commercial on TV. Something clicked. I'd never seen technology look like that — beautiful, simple, almost magical. I became obsessed. Started going to the municipal library while Mom worked. Read everything I could find about Apple, Steve Jobs, design, technology. The library had two computers with internet. That's where I really started learning.

First code

At ten, my family got me my first real computer. Taught myself HTML, CSS, Visual Basic — whatever I could learn from library books and scattered internet tutorials. Built my first program: a video file converter. The code was probably terrible, but it worked. Started learning Photoshop and Illustrator, studying designers like Starck and Jony Ive. Isolation became my advantage.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

October. Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech was uploaded in italian on YouTube. I was thirteen, watching Steve Jobs tell the world: "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life." I made myself a promise that day. I'd only do work that actually mattered to me. I didn't know what that meant yet. But I knew I wouldn't compromise.

Earthquake & Return

An earthquake damaged our house in Emilia Romagna. We lived in a tent for over a month. After that, Mom decided we'd move back to Ischia permanently. I enrolled in the new Computer Science and Telecommunications program at the technical institute. Finally studying formally what I'd been teaching myself for years.

The Pivot

Graduated high school. Did what everyone expected — enrolled at La Sapienza University in Rome. Left after two months. I was wasting time learning things I already knew. Started working at Lauro Group, a €50M holding company, as a developer. They saw I understood more than code. By 2019, I was Head of Digital Marketing for the entire holding. I was 21.

First bet

Left Gruppo Lauro to keep the promise I made at thirteen. Founded my company and built Payfork — a platform for seamless restaurant ordering and payment. Invested almost everything I had. Then COVID hit. Payfork died just months before the pandemic would've made it essential. Wrong timing. I lost almost everything. It hurt. But I learned more from that failure than any success before it.

Rebuilding

Lockdown. Started sharing everything I knew on Instagram — no strategy, just sharing. Hit 30,000 followers in five months. Clients started reaching out. Built a consulting business helping companies across four continents design products and build digital strategies. Finally making real money doing what I'd been preparing for my entire life. But I was building other people's dreams.

Going bigger

My marketing and development company hit €350,000 in revenue. Good money. Safe money. But I realized I was helping everyone else build their visions while keeping mine small. Had to make a choice: stay comfortable or bet everything on going bigger. I chose bigger. Stopped taking small clients. Only companies doing serious revenue. Only projects that could change things.

The Command

Jobson Italia, a €150M (Annual Revenue) company, made me CEO of a new venture. Mission: expand their Mediterranean market and open new global territories. The same kid whose mother cleaned houses to keep him fed now running a company's international expansion. That promise I made at thirteen was finally becoming real.

Now

Founded Horus — a Market Intelligence platform powered by autonomous AI agents that analyze, communicate, and execute tasks independently. Everything I've learned — technology, design, marketing, failure, resilience — lives in this.

Stay hungry, Stay foolish.