What I’m doing

Privacy and security

I’m the co-founder of Clipperz, an online password manager that proves you can build a web application that knows nothing about its users and their data. Clipperz was born out of the idea that people should have complete and exclusive ownership of their data. Web applications are extremely convenient and effective, but this is not a good reason to give up privacy, security and ultimately freedom. Unfortunately today you have no choice, but 
trust web application providers and hope they act properly.

Along with Giulio Cesare Solaroli, I envisioned a new kind of web apps built upon a strong Javascript cryptographic engine. Apps that look and behave like regular web apps, but designed to not reveal user data to the server. We dubbed them “zero-knowledge web apps”, other prefer to use the term “host-proof web apps”. We decided to test this approach on a very sensitive problem: managing and storing passwords! In 2006 we started evangelizing the crazy idea of considering what is now called “the cloud” the safest place for storing personal information.

As scary as this may sound, we think we have managed to achieve an interesting trade-off between security and convenience. We built Clipperz to rely on nothing else but the browser, nothing to install, no signatures or certificates, no hassles for the user. Clipperz gained a good reputation among security and cryptography experts and tens of thousand users. Eventually in late 2013 Clipperz became a paid service that fully embraced the Bitcoin economy. Learn more on the website.

Ebooks and digital publishing

During the last few years, I got interested in ebooks and digital publishing. I gained a good understanding of the sector, organized the first Italian barcamp and this landed me a job at Simplicissimus Book Farm that provides both a distribution platform for ebooks and magazines and a self-publishing service. Simplicissimus was founded by Antonio Tombolini, a proven entrepreneur that see further than anybody else I’ve ever met.

Urban cycling

I’m a convinced urban cyclist. In 2009 along with Antonio Tombolini, I startedCiclourbano.it a website that promotes cycling with a special focus on cargobikes and family bikes. I would love one day to turn it into a real business.

What I’ve been busy with

I started in 1995 as a researcher in parallel computing and numerical analysis at University of Bologna (Italy) and then at Loughbourough University of Technology (UK). I quickly learned that I had very little to contribute to science and I wasn’t feeling right in the academic environment.

In 1996 I moved to Milan to become the first employees of the Italian branch of MCI Worldcom. It was great to be part of the startup process: from just the country manager and myself to more than 200 people, from a small apartment to brand new offices and a huge data center. I learned so much! (btw, the company imploded few months after I left, along with my stock options, but this is a completely different story …)

In 1998 I co-founded eXtrapola, an online media monitoring service provider. I’ve been the CEO of eXtrapola for 7 years leading its growth, designing products, raising money, selecting and hiring people, building the engineering team, … until 2005 when my vision was no longer aligned with other shareholders’ vision.

What I can do for you

During these years I learned to drive the conceptual development and implementation of projects from idea to release. Web apps, data security and privacy, Bicoin, digital publishing, cryptography, cycling, television, … are some of the markets I’ve a decent experience of. I’m also quite good at writing business plans, raising money from investors, hiring smart people, selecting the right business tools, intermediating engineers and sales people, … I also like to evangelize about things I believe in.