Go all in

By the end of week one, we knew.

Not just a hunch, not just a vague feeling - it was a certainty.

The team I would embark on this adventure with had taken shape.

We made the decision earlier than expected. Before the program schedule, before most others. But deep down, we had already decided.

By Tuesday of the second week, Lorenzo, Gioacchino, and I did what every founder eventually must do: we took control of our own future.

We locked ourselves in a room, pushed through hours of intense discussion, surfaced our biggest fears and concerns, and laid everything on the table. By the time we walked out, we weren’t just aligned - we were committed.

We were co-founders.

But how do you even get to that moment?

How does a founding team really come together?

Choosing a co-founder

If you look at online literature on the topic, it seems simple:

Reach out to your techy high-school friend or the smart colleague you worked with and suggest that you team up, or find someone on one of those co-founder matching platforms.

That’s it, right?

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.

Choosing a co-founder and building a company together is probably the most important decision that will shape the project's future and your life.

One of the main reasons startups fail is that the founders aren’t on the same wave or don’t share the same expectations and aspirations.

It's critical to be as intentional and thoughtful as possible.

Having tried to launch startups multiple times, experienced a so-called “founder breakup,” and had a company with my two best friends, I knew that having complementary skills is as important as being compatible on a deep level.

Alright.

So where do you start?

First, there’s a component of gut feelings mixed with vibes that is hard to evaluate rationally and logically - it just needs to feel right.

In our case, we clicked immediately.

We have all spent the last ~10 years abroad in different parts of the world, have tons of similar experiences, and could immediately relate to each other’s journeys, values, and ways of thinking about work, risk, and ambition.

Part 1 - check ✅

Then there’s actual skills and background.

You want to respect and admire your co-founders, while making sure you’re complementary enough that you can take on multiple challenges.

Lorenzo is a trained engineer who has worked at some of the best engineering companies in the world, such as Amazon, Tesla, and ABB. He has lived and traveled across the world to work on power converters, innovative batteries, and hyper-optimized warehousing systems.

Gioacchino is a trained architect who worked at top architecture studios in Italy and the UK and even ran his small firm. Then, he fell in love with coding, transitioned into software development, and became a founding engineer and CTO twice in the past four years - call that adaptability.

As for me, I studied finance but jumped into the startup world early on - from Asia to Europe, to the US, from seed-stage ventures to pre-IPO companies I’ve worked at a few. I’ve done work in data analytics, growth marketing, and product, eventually leading growth teams and helping scale startups firsthand. I’ve seen what works, what doesn’t, and how things break when a company starts to grow.

I also built an e-commerce business with my two best friends - a small but successful venture that we eventually closed down profitably.

Now, it’s time to channel everything we’ve learned into building something of our own.

Part 2 - check ✅

Lastly, but most importantly, there’s attitude and commitment.

It’s hard to measure, but I believe extreme alignment is key.

Building a VC-backed startup will be an intense journey. You must share the same level of dedication, resilience, and belief in the vision.

We’re foolish enough to dream big.

Experienced enough to execute.

Wise enough to know we don’t have all the answers.

But relentless enough to figure them out along the way.

And if proof is needed, we’ve already made some hard choices:

Lorenzo is flying back and forth between Turin and Barcelona every week while his daughter is just three months old.

Gio turned down an easy, comfortable offer after his startup was acquired to build this - all while raising two-year-old twins.

I walked away from a crazy good, 6-figure-job at one of the hottest startups pushing the boundaries of AI, working alongside some of the best people I’ve ever met, while my partner is 2,500km away.

We’re going all in.

Not because it’s easy, but because we believe it’s worth it.

Part 3 - check ✅

Great.

What now?

Since the teams were officially formed by the Vento team, a week later, we haven’t wasted a second.

We’ve been heads down for the last few weeks, diving deep into problem exploration.

We’ve talked to more than 40 people in the e-commerce space. We’re testing some assumptions we had, clarifying pain points, and looking for some strong signals.

And we’re already seeing them.

The energy is high, the pace is intense, and the conviction is only growing.

In the next post, I’ll share more about what we’re learning, what we’re thinking, and how it feels to be at Vento.

Until then, onward.