In this episode, Francesco De Stefano shares his journey from consultancy to deep tech entrepreneurship, focusing on additive manufacturing, team building, product development, and international expansion. Gain insights into scaling hardware startups, navigating investor relations, and leveraging AI in manufacturing.
Sam and Francesco also discuss:
Now We Build has partnered with Capquest, an equity and investor relations management platform built for founders who need to track SAFEs, manage their cap table, and keep investors updated without the spreadsheet chaos. If you're raising capital or managing equity, Capquest helps you stay organised from day one. Now We Build listeners can now get 20% off an entire annual subscription with the code nowwebuild20. Use the link here to claim the discount: https://capquest.io/book-demo
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:50 Francesco's Career Path
02:46 From Consulting to Industrial Passion
04:08 The Birth of Caracol and Technological Vision
05:56 Lessons from Consulting vs Startup World
08:44 Building a Complementary Co-Founding Team
11:16 Hiring and Culture in Scaling Companies
13:57 Identifying Market Gaps in Aerospace Manufacturing
15:29 Service Model as a Commercial Strategy
19:32 Fundraising Journey and Investor Relations
25:48 Lessons from Early Failures and Mistakes
29:09 Global Expansion: Markets in US, Middle East, and Asia
32:35 Commercializing Deep Tech and Hardware Challenges
35:09 Integrating AI into Manufacturing Platforms
38:46 Why Keep HQ in Milan? The Italian Ecosystem
42:45 Closing Remarks and How to Connect
Learn more: https://linktr.ee/nowwebuild
Did you enjoy this interview? Subscribe so you don’t miss out on future episodes.
Follow Francesco:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesco-de-stefano-8b4b4497/
Follow Sam:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-marchant/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sammrchant
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sammrchant
","author_name":"Sam Marchant"}