Hello Francesco and welcome, how would you describe yourself in a nutshell?
Thanks! Great to be onboard!
I am Italian and currently living in Milan, although I only moved back to Italy a couple of years ago after 20 years in Sweden (and a couple of years in Dublin in between).
I love connecting with people (especially over a meal 🙂) and in my free time I enjoy riding trains, visiting art museums and going to live music gigs. I also make a mean Neapolitan pizza with my 15 year old sourdough.
What is your professional background?
I have spent over 20 years doing all sorts of things in the domain industry. I started processing registrations in exotic TLDs at Danish ICANN Accredited Registrar Ascio (now part of Tucows), then moved on to Registry Relations and Product Management. From there, I went on to dotMobi/Afilias where I worked in Business development promoting services ranging from domain names to mobile Web services, managed DNS and obviously new TLD Registry backend in the period leading up to the last new gTLDs round. At that point, I was called to manage the launch of the .CLOUD TLD, which was a lot of fun and one of the most successful nTLD launches. I am particularly proud of running a very interesting and diverse Pioneer program and finishing the first year of operation with over 100.000 domains registered.
I have, however, also ventured out and expanded my horizons beyond domain names: I have worked with cybersecurity and Managed Service Providers, and I have built a service combining my love for travel and live music called GigsGuide (https://gigs.guide ) which I still run as a side project.
What inspired you to join the Freename team?
I think it started with the great impression the founding team made on me. They are extremely driven and they have already managed to build a solid and successful business in such a short time. At the same time, they remain humble and very much in touch with their more human and fun side.
But beyond first impressions, they did a great job in addressing the concerns that I – like many people with my background in the domain industry – had about Web3 and Web3 domains and the opportunity they offer. Freename combines a sound technical solution with a unique perspective as the only European Web3 domain provider, so I think we have a lot to contribute to the development of the Internet and I am excited to join this journey and take an active role in this movement now.
What are you currently involved in at Freename?
I am joining Freename as Global Head of Strategic Alliances, with specific focus on our B2B offering. I will spend most of my time engaging with the technical community and expanding our network of strategic partners in the domain industry and beyond. The role obviously involves a fair bit of travel, and I’ll be hitting the ground running with Domainpulse in Vienna in a few days, then ICANN in Puerto Rico, followed by Cloudfest and NDD Camp in Strasbourg.
What do you think are the three strongest aspects of Freename with a newcomer’s look?
An incredibly motivated and enthusiastic team, a solid technical foundation and a strong focus on building solutions that truly make a difference.
What benefits do you feel you bring to the growth of the company?
The first obvious benefit is my solid knowledge of the domain industry and my experience in building products and bringing them to market. But beyond that, my curiosity, enthusiasm and eagerness to learn new things and be part of creating something with the potential to seriously improve the life of billions of Internet users worldwide.
