Memory from Massimo
Reposted from Linkedin:
Between 2010 and 2011 Andrea and I lived together. One evening, at home chilling out together, we decided to watch a movie and chose "The Social Network”. Andrea could not stop talking about it during the following days, and kept mentioning that entrepreneurship was the way to go. Those days he was a young banker at Morgan Stanley. He shared a story of how one of his clients was a flamboyant entrepreneur, would show up at meetings with an open colourful shirt and seemed to deeply enjoy life, while at the same time building a business empire. Andrea was impressed and felt in those meetings that he was sitting on the wrong side of the table. Months later, he wrote a two-page word sheet entitled Zero-Gravity. Just Andrea, his vision, and two pages. It was a well thought out and simply written plan for this future business. I asked him if he was planning to use this to raise money for his new venture, he answered no. He felt that having a minority investor could remotely resemble the idea of working for someone else, which was not part of the plan. So much for all those sophisticated venture capital classes at HBS! We laughed about it. However, I think at that stage Andrea had already learned the most important things, he knew himself and what he wanted, and in those days he was defining his vision for life.
A few months later Andrea left Morgan Stanley and our place in New York to move to Milan. In New York, Andrea`s lifestyle was typical of a promising banker. Hard working, yes, but along with expensive dinners and fancy clubs. In a matter of weeks, Andrea was able to completely transform himself. In Milan he rented a very small flat and sublet one room to lower his monthly rent. He used all his savings to invest in his plan. He focused on practising sports and building new friendships around his passions. No need for fancy dinners anymore. He almost withdrew for a good couple of years from his previous circle of friends, and I suppose that this helped him focus on his new vision.
During those days I would visit him to catch up as in the meantime I had moved to London. Andrea was really having the time of his life. He was in great shape, having lost the extra weight he had gained in New York due to long nights at work and unhealthy food. He was snowboarding and socializing, building the group of friends and supporters that would represent the initial network around Zero-Gravity. I remember that one evening I arrived from London and we planned to catch up. This was when the Zero-Gravity sport center in Milan was in the early phase of construction. He told me of how of he had levered his engineering skills to oversee the construction from scratch, saving money and making sure that everything was built with top-quality materials. I assumed we would go straight out to some bars. Not at all. Just a half an hour from landing, while still dressed in my office suit, I found myself with Andrea at the Zero-Gravity building site, with a wooden stick in my hand, helping him to chase off few guys that had been stealing machineries from the site.
That was Andrea. While he excelled at the most celebrated universities and could write very sophisticated presentations about corporate mergers, he was also able to roll up his sleeves and self-police his site if needed. Andrea could work no-stop for months and could also party for days if it was the right moment to do so. He was pure energy, vision and fun. He did things with total passion and conviction, and nothing would get in his way. He was also honest and respectful, inclusive and sensitive to others. He was one of the most inspiring, original and open-minded people I have ever met, while also being an easy-going and affectionate friend, able to open up for thoughtful conversations. Andrea was also deeply proud to be Italian, and held the strong conviction that business could grow and prosper in Italy. He thought that Italy was a blessed unique country in the world, and was very offended when people criticized Italy.
Andrea founded Zero-Gravity, a fast-growing innovative sport center. Prior to that he was a banker at Morgan Stanley in New York and London, and business analyst at Mckinsey. His academic career was also stellar, with Harvard Business School, Politecnico di Milano and Collegio di Milano in his bag. Education is an essential foundation on which one can build his/her future endeavours, no matter what they might be, and scholarships played a key role in Andrea`s chance to succeed and grace us with his talent. We need more Andreas in our lives. Please join us in donating for new scholarships established by Andrea`s family and friends in his honour.