Fabio Angotti, CEO at SNDS

 

1 - Who are you and what do you? 

Most people who know me identify me as "Fabio-the-CEO-of-SNDS" and, in fact, they're right. In 2013 I gave life to this amazing company, and it gives me great satisfaction and enjoyment day in, day out and allows me to grow together with my team. My company works in web marketing and our daily activities revolve around innovation in digital communication. One of the things I love doing the most is developing business strategies and digital marketing for my clients. But not only that; I strongly believe that working in communication means first and foremost becoming good communicators. This is why I have taken many training courses that have allowed me to become a trainer and business coach. I look out for opportunities. I identify objectives and transform them into results through the managerial practicality of much of the corporate world, from the training of human resources to the business strategy of a company. My goal is to add value to companies that want to access both my knowledge and experience to allow them to grow or revamp themselves wherever it's needed, or perhaps yet not even known.

2 - What was your vision when creating your company?

Before founding SNDS between 2009 and 2013 I had created another web agency in Milan where we had put together an impressive team of 35 people. When I decided to leave my old company, I knew that I had to start all over again alone in a new country and I was well aware that the first three years I had to work on the edge of my physical and mental limits. As a matter of fact, the first fifteen months of activity were spent taking care of virtually everything: Adwords campaigns, websites, strategies and social media content, sales, administration, accounting and debt collection. Since then the company has been able to hire the first four employees; two computer engineers, a web designer and a multitasking secretary.

Luckily, during all this time - even though it was very hard - I never lost sight of my goal, my happiness or my enthusiasm for my job.

Our great fortune is that our first customers placed their trust in us at the beginning and continue to do so today: this allows us, day after day, to develop and grow our company.

3 - How has your vision changed since launching SNDS?

When I started my first company in Milan, web marketing was still in its infancy.

Some of the first companies where we added value through SEO projects and Google Adwords campaigns have seen a rapid growth as a result of their returns.

When I first moved to the Ticino region in 2013, I found more or less the same fertile ground I found in Italy 5 years ago.

Today, with the current market situation, an agency like ours has the extraordinary opportunity to verticalise into specific digital areas in order to attract international customers with broader visions

4 - You have some great case studies on your website, I am sure they were all exciting projects… Which projects were the most challenging?

In terms of the fashion business, I'll mention the case of Istituto Secoli, a beautiful and long-established Milan-based company. It is a school of fashion renowned worldwide for the uniqueness of its courses in modelling and fashion design in general. Therefore, one of the main challenges is certainly to support this client throughout the entire digitisation process.

For Istituto Secoli we have created an ad hoc CRM system for the entire digital management of classroom attendance, marks, records and monitoring of advertising campaigns.

This is my favourite project because we have been working with this customer for years, allowing us to make full use of our company know-how.

5 - How did you overcome those challenges?

Every entrepreneur can have their own tricks up their sleeve, from a personal point of view, as far as I am concerned, continual education is the most effective weapon in sustaining competitive advantage.

From a business point of view, challenges can never be overcome alone. For my part, we have to thank our first employees, especially Irene Belatti. She has allowed me to lay the foundations for building the current team, which is now an integral part of our growth strategy. My business partner, Leonardo Biondi, who can provide the best technical solutions and last but not least a big thank you goes to my partner, Claudia Vece - Ceo & founder of Quantasia, who supports me and the whole team by holding business coaching sessions and courses.

6 - What are your top five tips to consider when developing your digital strategy?

1. When you are about to deliver a product or service, you should always ask yourself: "What is my competitive advantage?"
2. Ask yourself what are the main reasons why a customer should buy your products/services instead of looking elsewhere.
3. From a business point of view, try to understand what "big problem" your products/services will solve for people.
4. Evaluate how the resolution of this problem can be monetised.
5. From the moment these steps have been taken, choose a test area where you can make exploratory marketing investments and then monitor the returns and consequently broaden your strategy in view of these findings.

7 - What trends do you think will shape the industry in 2019 and beyond?

Certainly worldwide, those who boast the best artificial intelligence algorithms and know how to anticipate their competitors - each for their own sector - will be able to have such a competitive advantage as to conquer very important market shares.

As far as our sector is concerned, we should not underestimate the importance of Augmented Reality and holograms. Companies will be built on digital platforms that will allow them to be cost-effective and efficient in terms of human resources, and will operate in such a way as to generate large revenues with high margins. Therefore, these will be companies that will have their scalability at the heart of their growth strategy.

8 - How is technology changing the art industry?

In the world of modern art there are more and more artists who add technological features to their works or installations.

In this sector, technology can be "shaped" to support the exhibition of the work (video effects, music, sounds) but it can also become an integral part of the work in question.

Sometimes technology becomes art itself.

9 - Has this had an impact on how collectors purchase art?

Search engines make it easier for a collector rather than an art lover to buy or find out where a specific work by a specific artist can be found, because certain processes have now been streamlined.

Our art dealer told me that he feels that buyer types have been changing slightly since the past: today the true collector is at risk of extinction and prefers to buy art for speculative purposes rather than to buy it out of "love".

In this sense I go against the tide as a true art lover: I buy different types, such as those we own in the agency. The beauty and emotion that every single piece of art conveys is what inspires me the most.

 

https://www.snds.ch/

 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mr.FabioAngotti/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabioangotti/