Milan, 3:13 PM.
The tram screeched to a stop at Porta Romana, and Leonardo hopped off, his laptop bag hanging from his shoulder. His mind was racing—29 days and 20 hours to turn his life around or, well, faceplant spectacularly.
He strolled three blocks to this gritty co-working spot called Officina22, sandwiched between a tattoo parlor and a vegan bakery. The receptionist barely acknowledged him as he scanned in with his student ID—thank goodness it still worked.
Inside, the Wi-Fi was hit or miss, and the desks looked like they came from different worlds. However, there were power outlets, free instant coffee, and, most importantly, zero distractions.
He flipped open his laptop and set up a new GitHub repository: componet-core.
Then he jotted down two checklists in a worn notebook:
Prototype MVP Tasks:
- Basic supplier dashboard (login, upload parts, pricing model)
- Buyer interface (search function, part request, order tracking)
- Backend logic (inventory matching, basic AI rules)
- UX wireframes
- Cloud deploy (Heroku or AWS)
Supplier Outreach Goals:
- 10 real contacts
- 5 physical visits
- 3 verbal confirmations
- 1 signed MoU
As he scanned the tasks, a wave of reality hit him hard: he was all alone. No cofounder. No team. No cash.
His stomach growled, reminding him he had just €11.20 left in his bank account.
Meanwhile, up in Tower C...
Lorenzo Vitale walked into a glass-walled conference room on the 28th floor, a San Pellegrino in one hand, AirPods in the other. He was clean-shaven, but those dark circles under his eyes? Yeah, they told a different story.
"Close the Mediport LatAm slide," he instructed, motioning toward his assistant.
The pitch deck vanished from the screen.
He sized up the three investors in front of him. One from Madrid, one from London, one from Berlin. All in suits. All with money. All on the lookout for any sign of weakness.
"The market doesn't need another logistics company," the guy from Berlin said.
Lorenzo leaned in. "Exactly, that's why I created a logistics brain. Not just trucks, not just warehouses. We're talking intelligence—routing decisions, predictive demand, doctor behavior models. We save hospitals 22% in delivery optimization alone."
He didn't flinch.
They tossed more questions his way. He answered them, but for just a second, his mind drifted to that kid from Bocconi. Leonardo.
What was it about him?
__________________________________________________________________
2017, Rome
Nineteen-year-old Lorenzo found himself sitting on the cold hospital floor just outside his mothers's room, his hoodie drenched in blood.
The doctors didn't even spare him a glance when they delivered the gut-wrenching news: "We couldn't get the plasma delivered fast enough. She bled out."
That moment replayed in his mind — standing there, walking, but feeling like a ghost until he reached the hospital vending machine. He stared at a Snickers bar behind the glass for six minutes before realizing he didn't have any change.
That night? That was when Mediport was born. Not from some grand vision or ambition.
But out of pure, unfiltered rage.
__________________________________________________________________
Back to Present Day – Leonardo
Fast forward to today, and in Officina22, Leonardo was coding like a man possessed. Seriously, the terminal windows were flashing, Postgres logs were racing by, APIs were getting built from scratch. His phone buzzed every ten minutes with supplier numbers he'd dug up online, but guess what? No one was answering.
Then at 7:46 PM, everything fell apart. His code broke. His mind? Totally fried. And his stomach? It felt like it was digesting nothing but air.
He closed his laptop and stepped outside, following the scent of food to a tiny alley trattoria with a chalkboard that read:
"Tortelli di zucca – €7"
"Water – €1"
He had €11.20 in his pocket. A little risky, but he figured, why not?
He pushed the door open and stepped in.
Inside, the place was cozy but dim, nearly empty save for one table. A young woman sat there, sketching away on a large iPad, her posture unhealthy.
The waiter handed him a menu, but before he could even think about ordering, she looked up.
"You're from Officina22. I've seen you around."
Leonardo blinked in surprise. "Yeah! Lorenzo, nice to meet you! You work here too?"
She nodded. "Sometimes. When the café Wi-Fi decides to take a vacation, I commute here. I'm a designer."
Closing her iPad, she extended her hand. "I'm Sofia. From Parma. UX and product — oh, and I make a killer tiramisù if you ever need a bribe."
Leonardo couldn't help but smile. It was the first time in a couple of days that he felt a flicker of happiness.
"Leonardo. I'm the guy who codes things that tend to break... a lot."
"Ah, perfect! We're meant to collaborate then."
He chuckled nervously. "Actually... I might really need a designer. I'm working on something. For real."
She tilted her head, intrigued. "For a hackathon?"
"Nope. For Lorenzo Vitale."
Her reaction was instant — eyes widening ever so slightly. "You're joking, right?"
"Nope, not joking. He gave me 30 days."
Sofia let out a low whistle. "Alright, mystery man. If your backend holds up, I'll bring the frontend."
Lorenzo couldn't believe his ears. "Was it destiny or fate, or maybe father is helping him from above?" he thought, tears starting to form in his eyes.
Sofia felt in a daze seeing him tearing up, " Are you okay? Are you so moved to receive my help?" she said with a smile.
Lorenza hurriedly rubbed his eyes. " No, no, no, I mean yes!"
"Okay, okay, don't get flustered, I am gonna blush!" Sofia said with a bright smile. " To repay me for this favor, you'll need to offer me a gelato when we are done, deal?"
Lorenzo looked at her, dazed. " Sure." He forgot that he had only €3.20 in his pocket.
Later That Night
Back at Officina22, Leonardo was glued to his laptop screen. A message from Sofia blinked in Slack, drawing his attention:
"Here's a wireframe for the supplier upload interface. Minimalist but intuitive. What do you think? I am not the best?"
He couldn't help but grin. "You are the best. Let me integrate it with code, by morning we should have it!"
As the terminal pinged and the code began to take shape, something in him shifted.
For the first time, he felt... not alone anymore.