Today at the Italian Tech Week is Elon Musk’s day. The most eagerly awaited appointment of a full program of big names is at 12; the CEO of Tesla and Space X will connect live to talk about Space, the future and new projects. At the end of the conversation with the president of Stellantis John Elkann, moderated by the director of Repubblica, Maurizio Molinari, Musk will also answer some questions posed by the audience.
There is the demand of the market, of the customers, there are the questions of the inventors, those of the investors. But at the end of the day, of the week, of the quarter, the only thing that matters is only one: what are you building? It is a question that returns, constantly, in describing the profile of John Elkann, an engineer, 45, for 17 years at the helm of a group that had to reinvent itself, which was, essentially, Fiat and has become much more.
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“What are you building?” Is the same question that Netscape and Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Marc Andreessen asked America in 2020 by charting the way out of the shock of the pandemic: “It’s time to build”. The answer from Exor, the holding company that also controls Gedi, is to “build large companies”. Companies that know how to face the market, starting from scratch, such as the startups in which Exor Seeds invests, or who know how to reinvent themselves, overcome complicated moments and return to generate value.
The horizon of those who invest in the complicated 2021 offers a composite scenario: the era of Covid-19 has accelerated the digital transition. States are once again protagonists in the economic emergency and in undemocratic regimes they invade competition between companies. The climate crisis sets new standards. New technologies promise new efficiency from energy to transport. The European system is starting to churn out its own unicorns, companies valued at least one billion, while the United States is inventing new labels, such as dragons, startups worth at least 12 billion.
Investments in the technology sector made by Exor from 2017 to today exceed $ 700 million. Today the portfolio consists of 42 startups. The goal is to build leading companies in hot sectors such as mobility, fintech and health. But Elkann’s approach always includes the time factor: will companies be able to survive in the long run? 78% of the companies listed on Wall Street since 1950 no longer exist. How do you build a company that is able to play its game, to compete, even in the long term?
The construction of Exor is indeed atypical. No longer an industrial conglomerate, a term that seems obsolete, no longer just focused on mobility, not just a financial company, but a holding company diversified by geography, sector and investment method. The journey begins from afar: 1997, Gianni Agnelli asks him to be part of the Fiat board of directors, Elkann is 21 years old. The only real request his grandfather made of him, he will tell more than a decade later, was to listen and ask questions. Which prove not only useful but necessary when the group is in the middle of the storm and John Elkann is called to lead them. Is it easier to start from scratch or to save and restore a group with a hundred years of history? Elkann recalls that he chose to study engineering “because it was more difficult” when he seemed destined for economic studies. An engineer likes to “solve problems”, and he has no shortage of problems. They were also daily bread in the factory, when very young he did internships on the assembly lines of Fiat cars in Poland or in the assembly of headlights in England.
The most difficult challenge is at the beginning of 2000, when Elkann convinces the family to believe in the relaunch and also gives a glimpse of the mentality of the investor who will be. The relaunch of Fiat and future alliances pass from a strategic plan: “You have to choose the companies of the group with which you have a good chance to compete globally”, said Elkann. Choose what you can do best and where you can win.
The evolution of mobility is central in the design of Exor, with Stellantis but also with Via Transportation and other startups already in the portfolio of Exor Seeds, led by Noam Ohana, and of which the former vice president of Amazon Diego Piacentini has become advisor and president a few days ago.
However, investments concern many other industries, from real estate tech to health, from insurance to wearables, from payment privacy to financial services. “We acted as a startup, making assumptions about how we could have a useful and valuable role in making these companies grow. We have found that the founders of the startups we have invested in appreciate what Exor sets out to do, our values and our history as entrepreneurs, ”Elkann wrote to shareholders in early April. This also applies to more established businesses: Exor’s decision to invest in publishing to accompany the digital revolution is seen by many as a sign of trust for the entire sector. Not an easy challenge, but “it’s time to build”.
What are you building and how do you build value over time? The chronology helps us: in February 2004 Musk invests 6.5 million dollars in Tesla, then little more than an attempt at an electric vehicle. Four months later, John Elkann brings Sergio Marchionne to the helm of Fiat. A new phase, recalling the words of the founder, Senator Giovanni Agnelli, “always look to the future, foresee the future of new inventions, do not be afraid of the new”.
ITW
All the speakers of the Italian Tech Week
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