Every year, Forbes Italia ranks the Top Young Entrepreneurs Under 30. One of them is the former Luiss student, Edoardo Di Lella, shortlisted in the “Educational” category.
Edoardo described his experience at Luiss. “I studied Economics and Business given I developed an interest in the realm of finance when I was in first year. I was keen to explore some topics I had encountered during my high school year in San Francisco. Almost immediately, I began to work at Starting Finance”.
Although the project at times kept him away from university, the start-up quickly gained considerable attention and interest. “The first round of investments brought in about 100,000 euros and over the course of the following two years, we raised more than a million euros. Above all, it is thanks to the capital increase inputted by Atypical Partner, a London-based private equity fund founded by a group of Italians”.
This growth that would not have been possible without the support of Luiss. “There are two aspects of the University that helped us particularly: the first is being open to forming associations. We launched the first Starting Finance Club at Luiss and today, there are about thirty of them scattered around Italy. The second aspect is the support, making available resources and space”.
The University continued to support Edoardo and the Starting Finance Club also after graduating. “We organized our first event at the University. Important profiles such as Giovanni Lo Storto, General Manager, and Paolo Boccardelli, the Luiss Business School Director, also gave their availability participating in the initiative. Luiss greatly supported us, giving us a considerable competitive advantage ".
Edoardo and Starting Finance hold ambitious future plans. “With Atypical Partner’s investment, Starting Finance enters a new phase into traditional finance. There are major profiles granting us access to high-level networks, that can support the company’s growth. Soon we will launch a gamification app, a sort of virtual stock market aimed at attracting people to the world of finance. In the long run, we aim to internationalize and become a guiding point of reference for Under 30s, supporting their training.
Edoardo’s advice to those who are preparing for a similar career pathway is “to pursue your goal, even if it means following an unusual route. You must believe in your ideas without being influenced”.