On the Eve of the Storm
Perhaps the first warning signs were already there. But when you stand at the heart of a growing company, you do not immediately recognize them as signs of danger. A heavier workload looks like success. Greater expectations seem like the logical result of progress. And every new challenge appears to be another opportunity to prove your worth. That was how we experienced it. Every meeting could mark the beginning of a new project. Every demonstration could open the door to a new collaboration.
Every journey to Italy brought new ideas. We felt privileged. And in all honesty, we were. But meanwhile, the world around us was changing faster than ever. Information technology was evolving almost from month to month. The Internet was developing at an astonishing pace. Customers were becoming increasingly demanding. Manufacturers expected ever faster results. New competitors appeared in the market. Something that seemed innovative today could already be outdated a year later.
To preserve our position, we had to keep investing. Not only in equipment, but also in knowledge. In people. In development. That was exactly what we wanted to do. But every step forward demanded more time. More energy. And greater financial resources. More and more often, I felt we had reached a crossroads. Should we continue growing cautiously? Or accelerate to maintain our lead? It was not an easy decision. Those who move too slowly risk being left behind.
Those who move too quickly can lose their balance. It is a lesson I did not fully understand until many years later. Marco, as so often, was already looking further ahead. He saw possibilities that, at the time, I sometimes did not yet see. I responded from the experience I had gained over many years. Sometimes we agreed immediately. At other times, we spoke for hours about the best road to follow.
Not because we opposed one another, but precisely because we wanted the same thing. We wanted Piramedia to succeed. We never debated merely to be right. Together, we searched for the best possible solution. Today, I regard those conversations as some of the most beautiful memories of my life. A father and son looking toward the future together. Each from his own experience. Each with his own ideas.
But always united by the same dream. That was something exceedingly precious. And I remain profoundly grateful for it. Meanwhile, our reputation continued to grow. More and more people placed their trust in us. Expectations are a beautiful thing. But they also bring immense pressure. I felt that pressure. Not because someone imposed it on me.
But because I have always demanded a great deal of myself. I did not want to disappoint anyone. No customer.
No manufacturer. No colleague. And above all, I did not want to disappoint Marco. Perhaps that was one of my greatest mistakes. Too often, I thought I had to solve every problem personally. That I always had to remain strong for others. That I had to have an answer to every question.
Today, I know that no one can live that way. Even an entrepreneur is ultimately only a human being. With doubts. Worries. Moments of uncertainty when he wonders whether the chosen road is truly the right one. Most of the time, I kept those thoughts to myself. Not out of pride, but because I believed the people around me had to be able to remain confident.
When I entered the Pyramid, I always tried to bring hope with me. Even on days when, deep inside, I was filled with uncertainty. I believe many entrepreneurs will recognize that reality. When you carry responsibility for others, you sometimes learn to hide your own worries. And yet one conviction continued to hold me upright. I continued to believe in people. I continued to believe that honesty ultimately becomes stronger than opportunism.
That trust sometimes requires patience. But that, in time, it always reveals its true value. That conviction has remained with me throughout my life. Sometimes it gave me extraordinary friendships. At other times, profound disappointments. But even today, I would never want to lose it. Without trust, entrepreneurship becomes nothing more than a financial calculation. And to me, building a company has always meant far more than numbers. It meant bringing people together.
Building something together. Dreaming together. Perhaps that was both my greatest strength... and my greatest vulnerability. While we continued working with confidence, we did not know that our most difficult trials still lay ahead. Not because our dream was wrong, but because even the most beautiful dream must ultimately prove itself in reality. We still thought we were simply facing another professional decision.
In reality, Piramedia was not the only thing about to take an entirely new direction. Our life was too.