I am Angelo Moratti, this is 10 Minutes to Inspire. Nerio, thanks for being here. You are on the video podcast of Tech Emotion, 10 Minutes to Inspire. Great 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 were a whole series of results that accompanied this strength of spirit. I remember you had just signed Inter and Juventus and Milan as clients, you had become part of Formula 1. In short, you did 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 about your feelings. Why were you like that, what brought you to be that way?
First of all, thank you, thank you Angelo for the wonderful words and congratulations for Tech Emotion because it's an experience that all young people can live and internalize, so it's a pleasure, an honor to be here. But the common thread is always the same, in the sense that for me every day is like the first and for me every occasion like this could change my life. So enthusiasm is nothing more than the ingredient, the fuel that we call 'in bestio' in Cesena, a Romagnolo word, which is that sacred fire that never makes you content with learning, discovering, consequently being passionate, because if you get passionate about discovery, research, curiosity, hunger. Passion makes the difference and so if you get passionate you get better results. If you get better results you become obsessive, you become obsessed with soccer, and you become 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 have to pursue is learning. And so the answer to your question is that for me every day is like the first. Today I learned a lot 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. Everyone can tell you something that maybe taken alone is not so interesting, but if you know how to connect the dots, which is vision, you assemble an outcome, an output that makes innovation. So Technogym in the garage, Technogym today is always the same.
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 any reference point you had? Some great entrepreneur who impressed you then, and you at some point as a boy said I want to become that one.
But as sports fans, you don't have a single reference, same for music, same for cinema. It depends on the sector. I remember one of my mentors was Vittorio Merloni. When I was very young, Vittorio Merloni was a great entrepreneur. I had the fortune to meet Francesco Caio, his CEO, and I remember going 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, his assistant. While Dr. Merloni showed me a presentation on lean thinking and Kaizen — so we're talking about 38 years, maybe 35 years ago — there was a young boy advancing the slides, every now and then Vittorio Merloni got angry because when he spoke he wasn't sleeping, but it wasn't synchronized. That boy was called Andrea Guerra and he was an intern. So I saw all these phases. So my references are not so much the people, but the evolutions of the people. So it depends on the period. Richard Branson of the 80s could be one, Bill Gates of the 90s another, Steve Jobs of 2002, because before I didn't have the fortune to know him nor to go to Apple. So I lived these phases. You introduced me to Warren Buffett, another icon, and yet I had the fortune to know so many important people in sports, all clients. Not because I do another job, I don't have a PR agency, simply because they are all clients. I was at the Oscars in Hollywood recently, the last one. The evening there was this after party of the Awards, the Academy Award, and I was among 50 people, all super stars. 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 with Taylor Swift, 'I love Tech...' All the people around — actors, actresses, soccer players, basketball players, football players — they were all in love with Technogym because they have used it forever. Cristiano Ronaldo was born on Technogym, Nadal grew up on Technogym, Sinner too. All these athletes for 40 years — 40 is a lot — so this is the real satisfaction: leaving a mark in the world, leaving a legacy for new generations, and making sure your products, your services, the digital, the technology enter people's culture, into people's homes. 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 the engine that every day we have sought. I could have stayed making equipment, bodybuilding, and that was it, but the sector was certainly not wellness.
Was there a moment at the beginning when you thought during the journey, 'Oh my God I can't make it' — did something happen? Because something always happens externally when you start a business, and at some point you say, 'I can't do it anymore,' meaning you are in a situation where you can't find the right way to overcome it.
