Episode 65 Francesca Gargaglia Building a Global Startup

Francesca Gargaglia is the COO and co-founder of Amity, a tech company that builds ready to use social features that companies can easily incorporate in their websites and app to create their own communities.

What’s unique about Amity is that even though the company was started very recently, it already has a very global feel: it has over 250 employees, of 30 nationalities, and it has offices in Thailand, Italy, the UK and the US. The companymirrors the personality and experience of Francesca. She is a relatively young founder, but she has lived and worked in four continents already.

In our conversation we discuss how her experiences working abroad in several countries have shaped her into the leader she is, and helped her face the challenges of building a globally distributed high-growth startup.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[01:36] – What makes Amity unique.

[02:25] – Francesca shares how her travel led to the introductions that birthed Amity.

[04:05] – The travel experience that changed everything for Francesca.

[06:20] – Francesca shares how the variety of experiences in her career and her travels shaped her as a leader.

[08:00] – How the elements of being a passionate expert fed into her work at startup Amity.

[09:56] – Francesca shares how studying law helped her provide a structured framework for the growing team around her.

[11:17] – How her curiosity and desire to create a significant impact led to Francesca’s entrepreneurial path.

[14:08] – Amity’s fast trek growth from its roots in Bangkok to Milan, London, and the US.

[15:34] – How Amity grew from a group of passionate people who wanted to change the world of social networking to a company bound by a set of core values.

[18:00] – Francesca shares how the name Amity, meaning friendship, is embedded in the company’s culture.

[19:22] – Measuring success by measuring the impact of Amity’s product on the end user and by personal growth.

[21:30] – How being a woman in a male-dominated industry made Francesca more eager to keep pushing forward to prove herself.

[23:46] – Francesca shares her secret sauce of leadership.

[25:55] – Why she hires people with a focus on soft skills and a flair for accountability.

[28:28] – Amity’s mission to help organizations curate a positive social network to deliver a quality experience to their community.

[31:13] – Where you can learn more about Amity and its mission to help companies worldwide use their technology to connect.

[31:47] – How Francesca’s background and love of travel feed into the multicultural diversity of Amity.

[33:20] -Francesca shares the business expression she finds the most inauthentic.

[34:21] – Francesca shares her food obsession, that’s a nod to her Italian culture.

[36:41] – Credits

Contact

Dino at: dino@al4ep.com

Websites:

al4ep.com or authenticleadershipforeverydaypeople.com

https://www.amity.co/

Other Francesca Gargaglia links:

Instagram: @fragargaglia

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

Amity

Instagram: @amity_hq

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/amity-hq/

YouTube: @Amity – YouTube

 

Authentic Leadership For Everyday People / Dino Cattaneo

Dino on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dinocattaneo

Podcast Instagram – @al4edp 

Podcast Twitter – @al4edp

Podcast Facebook: facebook.com/al4edp

Music

Wild Irish Moon by Susan Cattaneo 

Brave and Wild Album by Susan Cattaneo

Also Mentioned:

The Social Dilemma