I am Angelo Moratti, this is 10 Minutes to Inspire. Nerio, thank you for being here. You are at the video podcast of Tech Emotion, 10 Minutes to Inspire. It's wonderful to see you. The first thing that comes to mind when I sit in front of you is the first time I met you, early 90s. You were the same as now, by the way, you haven't aged. An enthusiasm, a curiosity, a driving force, and a clarity in being able to understand the future that was truly extraordinary. Then there was a series of results that accompanied this strength of spirit. I remember you had just taken Inter, Juventus, and Milan as clients, you became a partner of Formula 1. In short, you had done a whole series of things that were already groundbreaking for your sector, and you were no longer in the startup phase. But you still had that startup mentality. Let's go back then and tell me a bit about your feelings. How come you were like that? What brought you to be like that?
First of all, thank you, Angelo, for the wonderful words, and congratulations on Tech Emotion because it's an experience that all young people, if they live it, can internalize. So it's a pleasure, an honor to be here. But the full conductor is always the same, in the sense that for me every day is like the first. And for me, every occasion like this could be an occasion that could change my life. So enthusiasm is nothing other than, how to say, the ingredient, the gasoline that we call 'in bestio' in Cesena, it's a Romagnolo word of ours, that sacred fire that never makes you satisfied with learning, discovering, and consequently becoming passionate. Because if you become passionate about discovery, research, curiosity, hunger, passion makes the difference. And so if you become passionate, you get better results. If you get better results, you become obsessive, you become obsessed with football and you become, how to say, a champion. If you become a champion, maybe you can achieve success. But if you pursue success, it's very difficult to achieve it. What you must pursue is learning. And so that is the answer to your question: for me every day is like the first. Today I learned a lot of things because I talked to you, because I listened to the speakers, because I met a person, because three people stopped me and told me things. And so everyone can tell you something that maybe taken alone is not so interesting, but if you know how to connect it, connect the dots, which is precisely the vision, you assemble an outcome, an output that makes innovation. So Technogym in the garage, Technogym today is always the same.
But when did you decide to become an entrepreneur, and you decided very young, was there some point of reference that you had, some great entrepreneur who had impressed you? And at a certain point as a boy you said, 'I want to become that one'?
But like sports fans, you don't have a single reference, like for music, like for cinema. It depends on the sectors. I remember one of my mentors was Vittorio Merloni. When I was very young, there was Vittorio Merloni, a great entrepreneur. I had the fortune to meet Francesco Caio, who was his CEO. And I remember I went to Mr. Merloni, who showed me his company at the time, Ariston and Merloni appliances. And I remember there was a young boy with him who was his assistant, and while Dr. Merloni was showing me a presentation on lean thinking and kaizen – so we're talking 38, 35 years ago maybe – there was a young boy who advanced the slides every now and then. Vittorio Merloni got angry because when he spoke, he didn't sleep, but it wasn't synchronized. That one was called Andrea Guerra, and he was the intern. So I saw all these phases. So my references are not so much the people, but the evolutions of people. So it depends on the period. I say Richard Branson of the 80s could be one, Bill Gates of the 90s was another, Steve Jobs of 2002 – because before I didn't have the fortune to meet him, nor to go to Apple. So I lived these phases. You introduced me to Warren Buffett, another icon. But I had the fortune to meet so many important people in sports, in C – all clients. Not because I do another job, I don't have a public relations agency, simply because they are all clients. I was at the Oscars in Hollywood recently, the last ones. In the evening there was this after party of the Academy Awards, and I was in the middle of these 50 people, all super stars, and my daughter was crazy. I didn't even struggle to meet them, but then I talk to Kim Kardashian: 'Ah, I love Technogym.' I talk to Swift: 'Ah, I love Technogym.' That is, all the people around, actors, actresses, footballers, basketball players, football players, etc., were all in love with Technogym because they have used it forever. Like Cristiano Ronaldo was born on Technogym, just as Nadal grew up on Technogym, Sinner also. So all these athletes for 40 years – because 40 is a lot – so this is the real satisfaction: leaving a mark on the world, leaving a legacy for new generations, and making sure that your products, your services, the digital, the technology, enter the culture of people, into people's homes, that it can be for a person who needs rehabilitation, a person who had a heart attack, a person who wants to lose weight, a person who wants to jump higher or be better at skiing. So this is, let's say, that engine that every day – and we sought it out for ourselves, because I could have stayed making equipment only for bodybuilding, and that would have been enough, but the sector was certainly not wellness.
Was there a moment at the beginning, during the journey, when you thought, 'Oh my God, I can't do it'? Did something happen externally, when you start a business, that at a certain point you say, 'I can't take it anymore'? That is, you are in a situation where you can't find the right situation to overcome it?
