By Martin Olczyk, Managing Director of Techstars Transformative World Torino

It was a Sunday night in late 2022.

I was scrolling through applications from Primi Investori, an ecosystem initiative I had launched to support early-stage Italian founders. One pitch immediately stood out: Pack – The People’s Skills Development Platform.

The vision was clear, the problem was real, and the ambition was impossible to ignore. So I did what any curious ecosystem builder would do — I sent the founder a message.

Two hours later, I had a reply.

The founder was Pietro Maria Picogna, and that fast response was the first real signal of what would later define his journey: execution speed, clarity of thought, and a strong bias for action.

Just recently, I sat down with Pietro for a conversation following Pack’s €5.8M round closed late in 2025. In this piece, you’ll find highlights from Pietro’s founder journey so far, woven together with the story of how we met and why we quickly became convinced — on both sides — to work together as founder and investor. And for those who want to go deeper, the full video interview is linked at the end of the article.

We spoke the next day. Pietro later admitted that he was nervous, but he was also confident in what he and his team were building. At the time, Pack was still mostly “a bunch of slides,” with no major traction yet, just conviction.

Not long after that first conversation, Pietro joined our accelerator program in Turin.

Looking back, he wrote:

“I still remember my first meeting with Martin. I was super anxious and he was able to make me relax. I showed him what we were building (they were still a bunch of slides). I believed in us and our team and decided to wire our first institutional check.”

From a Sunday-night DM to a Demo Day stage, the journey had officially begun.

“Working for Enterprises Sucks”

At our Demo Day in Turin in 2023, Pietro opened his pitch with a bold statement:

“Working for enterprises sucks. And it sucks for three reasons.”

Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTTNqGlryR4.

No corporate jargon. No safe messaging. Just a clear point of view.

His message was simple: companies spend too much time on superficial perks and too little time on what really matters — clarity, skills development, and real growth for people.

That sentence captured exactly what Pack was building: a platform to help organizations understand real skills, develop people properly, and turn strategy into measurable results.

But Pietro’s story did not start on a big stage in front of investors. It started much earlier.

Before Startups, There Was a Swimming Pool

At 16 years old, Pietro was working as a waiter in a public swimming pool in his hometown. His goal was not to build a CV, but to support his family during a difficult financial period and pay for his own expenses.

At 18, he moved to Barcelona to learn Spanish and experience life abroad. At 21, he joined a multinational in the financial sector, where he found his first real mentor.

As Pietro later shared, that mentor taught him what personal growth really means.

“I learned that personal development is the key to unlocking people’s potential,” he wrote.

At 22, Pietro co-founded Pack - AI Change Management Platform. There was no funding, no safety net, and no guarantees. There was only belief in the idea and in the team.

From Sleepless Nights to First Customers

The early days of Pack were far from glamorous.

Building the MVP meant long nights, endless product iterations, and a lot of uncertainty. Pietro and his team struggled to bring the first version of the product to life, often working with limited resources and little external validation.

Still, momentum came faster than expected.

Within just a few months, Pack reached €30,000 in monthly recurring revenue, delivered more than 250 mentoring and coaching sessions, onboarded 15+ customers, and built a network of 100+ mentors.

From there, growth compounded quickly:

• €40K MRR within 12 months

• €65K MRR within 15 months

• Expansion across 3 countries

• A fully international, remote-first team

What started as slides turned into real revenue, real customers, and real scale.

Today, Pack stands at €3.6M ARR, trusted by companies such as Leroy Merlin, Edenred, and Gruppo Amadori, and backed by top European and U.S. investors.

Pietro summed up this phase perfectly:

“It seemed impossible, but we made it possible. And still, it’s Day 0.”

The “Golden Cage” Moment

One of Pietro’s mentors once told him:

“If you build your life inside a golden cage, you will never be free.”

That metaphor played a major role in pushing him toward entrepreneurship instead of choosing the comfort of a traditional corporate career.

This mindset also shaped how he approached fundraising.

In 2024 alone, Pack received term sheets worth more than €5M. Pietro and his team rejected all of them.

Not because of valuation. Not because of ego. But because of fit.

As Pietro explained, choosing the right people mattered more than choosing the biggest check.

Eventually, Pack closed a €5.8M Series A round with a mix of European and U.S. investors.

The mission behind this funding was clear: to help companies understand real skills, develop their people properly, and turn strategy into measurable results through an AI-native platform.

From Founder to Ecosystem Builder

Pietro did not stop at building Pack.

Over time, he began to invest in and support the broader startup community.

Through Mamba Ventures, he now backs early-stage founders. He also launched the Italian Tech Club, connecting Italian entrepreneurs in cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Berlin, Paris, New York, and San Francisco.

In addition, he speaks at international events, delivered a TedX talk, and published a book together with his co-founder Giacomo Gentili, focused on the future of work.

His journey evolved from founder to investor and ecosystem builder, creating a flywheel that now supports the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Why Founder Stories Matter

Founder stories have always been a core part of our accelerator programs.

They were never just about pitch decks or Demo Days. They were about the real experiences behind the scenes: the mistakes, the doubts, and the messy early days.

That is where the most valuable lessons are found.

Now, I am excited to bring these stories back, but with a new perspective.

This time, the focus is on our alumni — founders who grew up fast, built real companies, raised real capital, and are now giving back to the ecosystem.

Pietro is the perfect founder to start with.

His story does not begin with funding. It begins with a Sunday-night DM, a bold Demo Day statement, and a founder who was willing to move fast.

And if you ask him today, he will still say:

“It’s Day 0. Keep pushing.”

Behind every round, every headline, and every "overnight success" is a founder who doubted, struggled, and kept going.

We’re sharing these stories so founders at Day 0 know they’re not alone — and that the hard parts are part of the journey.

Watch the interview with Pietro:

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