🚀 Back to the Roots
Entrepreneurial nostalgia and a stormy fishing trip in the Alps
Ciao everyone!
This week I headed back to Geneva to celebrate Genilem’s 30th anniversary.
Yes, the Zurich–Geneva hop is always a commitment, but it was worth every minute: I got to reconnect with friends and founders from my earliest startup days.
The Geneva Reunion — and Why Early-Stage Chaos Is Addictive
What struck me most?
No matter where life has taken us—massive exits, fresh restarts, or still grinding—we all share the same entrepreneurial energy. Ideas flew across the room with zero NDAs, just: “Here’s what I’m building; let’s poke holes in it together.”
We also laughed about how we miss those raw beginnings:
No guarantees, only invoices staring back at you.
The adrenaline rush of “Will we make payroll?”
For outsiders that’s terrifying; for us it’s pure fuel. Like a BASE-jumper savoring the free-fall seconds before the parachute opens. And if the chute doesn’t open? We climb back up and jump again.
Idea to MVP in 5 Minutes: My New Favorite Hack
I’m jotting down every spark in Lovable.
Example: lunchtime chat → typed the concept into ChatGPT → asked for dev-style specs → pasted into Lovable → five minutes later I had a clickable MVP to show friends for feedback.
If that isn’t the ultimate founder cheat code, what is?
Yes, it’s just a maquette, but it’s an information arbitrage we can still exploit: pair a trusted tech partner with ChatGPT and test every idea.
Two projects are getting very real as month-end approaches. One will stay submarine for now; the other I’ll reveal soon—along with the “how we got here” story.
Storms, Boulders, and Alpine Trout
Last weekend I hiked into the Ticino mountains to fish with friends.
Trip highlights:
Hailstorm on arrival—luckily we were still in the car.
A river of debris blocked the road; we waited, then moved the biggest rocks ourselves.
Three-hour climb with 15 kg packs to camp beside melting ice.
Surrounded by ibex, we landed a couple of trout.
Red wine at 2 400 m—everything tastes better up there.
These trips feel like startups: hard, messy, out of your comfort zone.
While everyone else lounges by the pool, we sweat and suffer—but the view at the top, that first sip of wine, makes it all worth it.
Maybe that’s the entrepreneurial journey in a sentence: suffer to appreciate.
Without the ups and downs, life would be a flat, boring line.
Cheers,
Alessandro