Gaetano Biondo, Founder, Linkfloyd and MammaItalia

02f472bf6b697386fa7f0eaf86e60cc8.jpeg

Alumni Service

7 August 2020

In order to help current students and recent graduates to find their way in the working world, many of our alumni shared their career story. Here the story of Gaetano Biondo, Co-Founder/CMO of MammaItalia and Founder/CEO of Linkfloyd in Lugano and Bologna. USI Degree: Executive Master in Business Administration, 2016.

How did you start your career?

My career in communication started when I was 19, during my Bachelor studies in Publishing and Journalism, as I wanted to put in practice what I was learning academically, in order to get some real work experiences and to understand the job market around me. So, I began collaborating with plenty of local and regional media companies (20+ among press offices, journals, web magazines, radios and tvs). Afterwards, I gave birth to my own publishing initiatives (the first one I founded, in 2009, gathered morethan 70 collaborators). So I started enjoying marketing, business and entrepreneurship topics, and, while attending 3 more Masters, my career went on, between Italy and Switzerland, as both a professional and an entrepreneur.

Why did you choose to found Linkfloyd and MammaItalia?

I used to work for Tarchini Group which is one of the most important private conglomerates in the Canton of Ticino, leading the outlet segment (through FoxTown Factory Stores), real estate, hospitality, ICT and many more. As I had the chance of joining it, even if I was managing my own marketing consulting company, Linkfloyd Sagl, I decided to get the opportunity, as I was eager to confront with a structured group and a brand which has such importance in the territory. Thanks to the precious help of my employees and partners, however, Linkfloyd's  work  is  still  going  on,  and  a  new  start-up  was  born, MammaItalia,  helping  people  to  find  real  italian  food  outside  Italian boundaries: to these projects, I devote it a 30% of my working time, and most of my sparetime. Doing business, in fact, is part of how I am: I love how ideas, concepts, deals become real projects, producing work and wealth for the people involved.

What is your current role/duties?

At Linkfloyd Sagl, I manage the company at 360*, particularly devoting my effort in terms of business strategy, partnership and business development,  but  never  losing  contact  with  my  marketing  project managers (who coordinate designers, developers, copywriters, campaign specialists etc.).

At MammaItalia, instead, I directly manage people who give life to the marketing and communication strategies I myself conceive.

In your opinion, what are the qualities necessary for a successful career in Linkfloyd and MammaItalia?

In my opinion, qualities leading to be an acknowledged professional and those for being a successful entrepreneur are kind of similar: one must be skilled in listening and relating to others and the context, one must know when to pursue intuition and when to only hard work, one must never settle and never stop learning.

What positive aspects and qualities meant most to you during the study programme you attended?

USI  has  lots  of  positive  features:  among  those,  the  ones  I  consider distinctive, in their unique combination, are: a first-class teachers' faculty; courses' reduced size, in terms of number of students enrolled; study-mates coming from all over the world. This means, shortly, the chance of learning from the best teachers, who can be really focused on the single students, and the opportunity of practicing and networking with people having different experiences and points of view.

What competences and/or skills acquired in your USI Study Program have been useful/are useful to your professional career?

During USI Executive Master in Business Administration, I had the chance of better learning how a structured company must work: when to listen, when to follow, when to speak, when to lead, when to propose, when to wait, whatever kind of person you are collaborating or competing with. Furthermore, it enabled me to analyze advanced business data, to deal with practical finance, administration, business law and macroeconomics, to improve my negotiation skills, to feel myself complete as a manager and an entrepreneur; where completion, of course, is intended a new beginning of the learning process, that for and from which I know, everyday, the direction to watch to, for improving what I do on a daily basis.

What is your advice to USI students entering the job market?

I personally have one main suggestion: during studies, exploit all the chances you will have to practice what you are studying, because only this way you will understand what you like to do and in which field you can really give added value to companies and the market. A good theory is seminal to effective practice, of course, but if you find the right balance between study and some working within your academic period, you will have the chance of making some more mistakes, for choosing the right way for your career since its true beginning, after graduation. And you will not only be a willing intern somewhere, but a willing intern who loves what he/she does, and who already knows which added value can give to its employer, besides his/her will and time themselves.