esi: Who are you, what do you do and what makes you an expert on your start-upcountry?
Luca: I am Luca Romé Founding Partner of Startup Italia, an independent organization created in 2011 to inspire, advance, and facilitate young entrepreneurs throughout Italy. In particular we aim to help young Italian entrepreneurs create Global companies. This effort simply began with a group of young entrepreneurs seeking to help one another by sharing ideas, knowledge and resources. Today, Startup Italia connects the country’s most innovative young entrepreneurs with each other, corporations, academia, and public partners to help increase their pervasiveness and success.
esi: What is cool about your start-upcountry, what inspires you and keeps you thriving?
Luca: The Italian start-up scene is young. However, it is full of new companies and ideas that have real potential. The abundance of young, skilled people that don’t have a place to thrive due to a stagnant labour market has forced many people to think of new solutions for themselves and their peers.
esi: What makes you shake your head about your start-upcountry, what needs to be improved?
Luca: The Italian entrepreneurial fabric is flooded with start-ups that have difficulty competing at a global level. Although there are some start-ups that have real potential, a lack of momentum to raise initial funds exists. Firstly, the Italian venture capital/angel funding-industry is small and often operates in a closed network system and young companies lack the know-how to start fundraising locally and, most especially, abroad. In addition, the links between academia, government initiatives and the actual entrepreneurial community should be strengthened. Bureaucratic hurdles to starting a company and related costs should continue to be streamlined and reduced.
esi: What’s some cool fact we are likely not to know about your start-upcountry?
Luca: The Italian government has recently streamlined processes for the establishment of companies started by those under 35 years of age and for those companies that are technologically innovative in nature. The new legislation also introduces national financial instruments to boost private investments in start-ups and the possibility for certified innovative start-ups to raise funds through equity-based crowdfunding platforms.
esi: Thank you for the interview.
About the interviewpartner:
Luca Romé is a Founding Partner of Startup Italia an independent association that connects the country’s most innovative young entrepreneurs.
