Marco Always Continued to Believe
When people speak about entrepreneurs today, they often see only the result. They see a company that grows. Or a company that eventually disappears. But between those two extremes lies a long road. A road of hope. Doubt. Sleepless nights. And above all... people who, day after day, try to make possible what others consider impossible. Marco was one of those people. He was not someone who lost courage at the first obstacle.
Quite the opposite. It was precisely when others began to doubt that he often worked even harder. He was usually one of the first to arrive. And one of the last to leave. He always looked further ahead. Sometimes I asked him:
"Marco... when was the last time you truly rested?"
Then he smiled and replied:
"Later, Dad."
That one word said everything. Later. Later, we would have time. Later, we would travel. Later, we would enjoy everything we had built together. Later, we would slow down a little. Later... What a deceptive word. It sounds like a promise. But life taught me that later can never be taken for granted. And yet Marco continued to dream. He sketched new concepts. Developed new ideas. Spoke with potential partners.
He searched for solutions where others saw only problems. That was what I admired so much in him. Sometimes I watched him in silence as he sat before his computer. He could immerse himself completely in what he was creating. As though time around him had ceased to exist. His coffee grew cold. The hours passed.
But Marco continued searching until he understood how to improve things. When I watched him work that way, I felt not only like his father. I also felt like his colleague. His most candid sounding board. And his greatest supporter. Those memories are invaluable to me. Not because everything went well during those years. It did not.
But because I saw my son become a man of extraordinary vision and determination. Of course, we did not always agree. That is normal between two generations. Experience had made me more cautious. Marco looked above all at the possibilities that still lay before us.
When I preferred to sleep on an important decision for another night, he often already had the next step in mind. Sometimes we debated passionately. But we never tried to prevail over one another. Together, we tried to find the best path. He respected my experience. I admired his vision. And we almost always found our way back to each other. That mutual respect was the strongest foundation of our collaboration. Many people considered Marco an especially talented entrepreneur.
And he was. But he possessed another quality that perhaps touched me even more deeply. His loyalty. He felt responsible for the people around him. When one of our colleagues had a problem, he did not remain indifferent. He kept thinking about it. When a project was in danger of becoming stuck, he did not first look for someone to blame. He looked for a solution.
He had not learned that from a book. It was simply part of the man he was. He had a big heart. Perhaps, at times, even a heart that wanted to carry too much. People who empathize deeply with others easily forget their own limits. They often place themselves last. It is a beautiful quality.
But it can also make someone vulnerable. I sometimes wonder how many worries Marco kept to himself. How many nights he lay awake without anyone knowing. How many times he smiled while silently wondering how he could hold everything together. I will never receive a complete answer to those questions. Nor do I want to pretend that I knew everything happening within him. No father knows every hidden sorrow of his child.
Even when they are together almost every day. But this I know with absolute certainty: Marco never stopped trying. Not when the road became more difficult. Not when the pressure increased. Not when projects unfolded differently from what we had hoped. Not even when he noticed that not everyone carried the same sense of responsibility. He continued searching. He continued building. He continued believing. That is precisely the image I want to keep of him.
I do not want his life reduced to the difficult period at its end. Marco was so much more. He was my son. A father. A friend. An entrepreneur. A man with talent, humor, dreams, and a heart always turned toward the future. I want to remember him as the man who, for years, worked with all his strength for his family. For his colleagues. For his ideals. And for the future in which he sincerely believed.
That is also how I want others to remember him. Not only for the way his story ended, but above all for the courage with which he lived it. The value of a human life is never determined by its final chapter alone. It lives in all the pages that came before. In the love someone gave. In the people he helped. In the hope he shared.
In all the times he fell and still tried to rise again. And in the dreams that, because of him, continued living in others. When I look at Marco's life in this way, I do not see a man who should be defined by his difficulties. I see a man who continued trying. Who continued loving. Who continued believing. And in that respect, Marco was a truly extraordinary man. I was proud of him then.
I am still proud of him today. And I will remain so. Tomorrow. Every day still given to me. And for as long as I live.
