Empowering People With Mentoring

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in personal development but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Giacomo Gentili, Co-Founder of Pack, located in Bologna, Emilia Romagna, Italy.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Pack is a cross-company mentoring platform connecting junior employees with professional mentors to accelerate the development of soft skills via personalized and scalable mentoring programs. Our clients are companies with 100+ employees experiencing high employee turnover. They are typically service firms (consulting, IT, and financial services) looking for new ways to engage their employees.

Tell us about yourself

The business started as a side project focused on mentoring sessions for startup founders. Over time, we grew the mentor base, built a business model around it, and then pivoted towards corporate mentoring for two reasons:

Scalability and sustainability of the model.
Major underlying issue (the Great Resignation)—mentoring is a powerful weapon in combating it!

Over the next ten years, we want to impact 1% of the workforce (30M people) by helping companies retain their talents with investments to maximize their potential.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Having customers love your product/service and receiving positive feedback for your time from your clients and partners. Knowing that what you do has a real impact and makes people's lives better feels great.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Managing people. Especially at the beginning, they represent your main asset. You have to find the right one, nurture them, understand their feelings and motivations, listen actively, give them responsibilities, and make bold decisions for the business when needed if they are not the right people anymore.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Launch as soon as possible. You don't need to have the perfect product/solution, just need the right partner to start testing your hypothesis and gathering feedback from the market.
Your team is your greatest asset - make sure you build the perfect one: take your time when evaluating potential members (have them work with you for a while to see if you like each other), be clear on goals and expectations, and trust them by giving them responsibilities.
Get mentors to support you - the time you save by listening to mentors' advice is invaluable. You can avoid stupid mistakes and do things faster. Surround yourself with trusted mentors.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://thepack.tech/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giacomo-gentili/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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