# One founder, not another: what really tips the scales for investors **Authors:** Adeline Bertin **Categories:** Business **Tags:** Investments, Venture-Building, Funding **Last Updated:** 2026-05-13T15:09:55.658Z **Reading Time:** 6 min read --- ## Summary Long before capital comes into play, what tips the scales for an investor is something harder to measure: chemistry, conviction, a clear grasp of the problem. Elena Lavezzi, CEO of Znext, and Alfredo Palena, co-founder of Ekory, speak from both sides of the table.  --- *Elena Lavezzi (pictured above) and Alfredo Palena were invited to speak at a conference that took place last Thursday, May 7th, on "Among thousands of entrepreneurs: what really makes one stand out?". The conversation was moderated by Floriano Bollettini, General Director Italy at Albert School, and Prof. Angelo Cavallo, Associate Dean at POLIMI Graduate School of Management, both co-directors of the new [Master in AI & Entrepreneurship](https://www.albertschool.com/programs/master-ai-entrepreneurship-polimi).* Elena Lavezzi leads Znext, a €60 million venture builder backed by Zanichelli Editore, Italy's leading publishing house. [Znext](https://www.znext.io/) focuses on edtech, the future of work, lifelong learning and wellbeing. The model works along two tracks: acquiring majority stakes in companies that have already demonstrated meaningful growth, and **co-founding new ventures from scratch.** In this case, the idea is to bear the risk so the founder does not have to carry it alone. "Imagine a solo founder, working alone in his room for a couple of years, trying to validate a project without investors, without money and without clients. Now imagine this founder being supported by our platform." Beyond the €150,000 in initial capital, Znext provides support across communications, growth, introductions, networking, finance, legal and administration. "Our aim is **to build a company centred around its founder, who brings the vision and the direction.** We don't want to substitute the founder; we want to co-partner with them on this first mile." --- ## The first thing an investor looks for in a founder is chemistry [Ekory](https://www.ekory.ai/), co-founded by Alfredo Palena and Lorenzo Di Cataldo, was the first start-up to join Znext's venture building programme, in 2025. For Alfredo Palena, co-founder and CTO, the premise is straightforward: "Today, the knowledge of a company is scattered in different applications that employees use every day. Most companies don't lack knowledge; they lack access to it." Ekory positions itself as a Knowledge Intelligence Platform, turning company knowledge into instant answers, clear guidance and auto-updated training. "This is our vision," Palena said. The founder, Lavezzi suggested, embodies what Znext seeks. "He brought an idea that we saw big potential in." But beyond the idea itself, **what stood out was his openness: "the willingness to work with us and to also change the idea if needed."** She explained: "The first thing that we look at when we meet a founder for the first time is the person." Since the plan is to work together for months, potentially years, that initial chemistry matters. "It's this instant feeling that we will work well together." The investment team also looks for **operational and commercial instincts, speed of learning, and genuine technical depth.** "Having the capacity to build in AI and to understand what you are building, how fast the technology is moving, is fundamental." On the question of technology, Lavezzi was direct: "As investors, we tend to look for AI-native opportunities and ventures. So everything that is not AI-native, even if with a very solid technology behind, is not really competitive anymore." --- ## Systems thinking, the rarest quality of all Beyond technical skills, she described the human qualities that matter most: "We look for humble people, who are eager to learn, with a healthy ambition, who are serious and ready to push hard for the next couple of years, because to start a venture is a long journey, challenging and hard, not as fancy as it seems from the outside. **Discipline is fundamental**." And the rarest quality of all? "What we would love to see more is systems thinking: the ability to see how the pieces connect, to anticipate the second-order effects. This is hard to find." Closely linked to that is the capacity to be truly independent: "to really identify and solve the problem without asking support from the investors or waiting for them to tell you what to do." **Data fluency, she added, is non-negotiable.** "If you are a founder and you don't think in data, how can you really push for the exponential growth the venture world is expecting today?" --- ## On pitching: lead with the problem, not the product The most common mistake Lavezzi observes is also one of the most avoidable. "Founders usually pitch the solution before they understand the problem, and how big the market is. They are so eager to show the product that they sometimes skip why it's fundamental that the product exists." A close second: not knowing their numbers. "That is fundamental to confirm that the validation is done successfully. You need the economics, the fundamental KPIs." Third, and perhaps most telling: "They spend a lot of time iterating on the pitch without iterating on the business." She acknowledged the pressure founders face: "I also know that investors are very picky on pitches, and that fundraising is very stressful for a founder." But the pitches that stay with her are the ones where the founder makes the problem feel urgent and personal. "Probably the best pitches we have seen are when the founder makes us understand **why the problem keeps him or her up at night**; that there is really something to solve, that nobody did before in that way." --- ## On fundraising: people before money A computer science engineer from Politecnico di Milano, Palena spent five years in AI consulting at Avvale, working with high-profile clients such as ENI and Luxottica, before co-founding Ekory. "I only had one goal from the beginning: **to learn everything I could and then start my own company**." In his final year there, he began working part-time, validating ideas and building minimum viable products on the side. For Palena, the fundraising process was short, but clarifying. "I think I learnt one fundamental thing: **money is important, but the most important thing is people.** People who believe in your vision, and primarily in you, as a founder." Demonstrating commitment, he argued, is what makes investors take notice. "If you develop something and you can show the value that you developed, and you demonstrate the commitment, it's not too difficult to find someone to put money in your startup." The harder task is finding the right people: "Someone who will stay by your side even when things go wrong, someone who can help you and whom you can call even for a quick chat." --- ## Conviction is the one thing you can control His broader advice to aspiring founders is simple but demanding: "**Invest in yourself, believe in your idea and commit to it**, because no one can invest in you if you don't act on this idea. When you have an idea: build something. Keep building something every day, regardless of the resources, of the investment." The tools available today, he noted, make this easier than ever. "You can make an MVP and show it to some people who could be interested in this idea." Conviction, ultimately, is what he sees as the great differentiator. "**What convinced Elena and Znext to partner with us is that I was convinced.** With this mindset, luck becomes something that is more a probability." ## Key Takeaways 1. The first thing investors evaluate is the person, not the idea. That initial sense of being able to work together — built on humility, discipline, and genuine openness to feedback — often matters more than the pitch itself. 2. The most common and avoidable pitching mistake is showcasing the solution before establishing why the problem urgently needs to exist. The best founders make investors feel the problem personally, not just understand it intellectually. 3. Technical skills and data fluency are table stakes. What truly sets a founder apart is the ability to see how pieces connect and anticipate second-order effects before they happen. 4. Alfredo Palena's fundraising lesson is simple: find people who believe in you, show them you believe in yourself by building regardless of resources. Demonstrated commitment, more than any pitch, is what converts interest into investment. 5. Investors like Elena Lavezzi are no longer simply looking for strong technology: they expect ventures to be AI-native from the ground up. Anything less is already considered uncompetitive. --- *Article from [Albert's Deep Dive](https://deepdive.albertschool.com) - Albert School's Journal*