People are at the heart of any kind of work process, and “doing” is more important than “speaking”. This is why people and their work deserve a great respect.
Giuseppe Spezzano was born in South Italy (Locri) and he came to Turin to attend the University Politecnico. In Turin he decided to remain after graduating in Business Organization, with the desire to create something innovative. Giuseppe is at the beginning of his career as startupper,since November 2011 he has been working round the concept of e-books and editorial business models, till he launched Bookolico, site and community that aims to innovate the editorial business model.
Bookolico, which has another co-founder David Pani and some employees, is incubated since last January in Treatabit, an incubator in Turin.
I’ve always wanted to create something which is completely mine. I started developing my ambition when I was a child. I remember I was walking with my father in the small town where I grew up. We went to a shop and, as we step inside, the owner of the shop started yelling at one employee. I found that scene very sad and touching. My father looked at me and asked me: “Son, which side are you going to be on?” I didn’t answer, I barely understood his question. But, as I grew up, his question became clearer and clearer to me. Now I know that people are at the heart of any kind of work process, and “doing” is more important than “speaking”. This is why people and their work deserve a great respect.
This is my first entrepreneurial experience, but I guess that there is something that grows inside you since you’re a child. I've always been a curious person, I’ve always asked: “why?” This is a key word in my life, the question that always brings up answers and discoveries. I’m fascinated by any kind of process and when I study one I always wonder: “How does it work?”, “Why does it work like that?”, “Is it possible to make it work better?” The last question is the hardest because sometimes that doesn’t depend on you, it does depend on the available technology, the people surrounding you and, most important, how deep your knowledge of that process is.
I was studying the publishing process when I had the idea of Bookolico, a startup aiming to create substantial changes in the publishing industry. We specialize in the e-Book self-publishing, which, if we consider the new opportunities brought by the book digitization, represents the new era of the publishing industry. Through Bookolico we strive to improve the processes of sale, distribution, retribution and research. Bookolico offers a new sale model with a fixed price range (from 0,99€ to 6,99€ per eBook). The price is determined by the preferences and tastes of readers, so it’s a parameter of the book value.
I had the idea of Bookolico in November 2011. On January 17th it was accepted by Treatabit, a Tourin incubator which is part of “Politecnico” I3P. Incubation can be very useful for you startup. It gives you all the help you need and also the chance to meet people like you and join special events to deepen your knowledge.
The first thing you need to do when you start a startup is building a team, so I started looking for a web designer willing to join the project. I was looking for a skilled and passionate professional who was interested in Bookoliko startup. On January 25th 2012, Davide Pani became part of the team. Since then, we’ve been working together to create the main platform and make Bookolico work better and better. On March 21st 2012 we launched a landing page and since then we’ve been getting some concrete results. What I’ve learnt so far is that it’s not easy to find someone who work efficiently and most of the people are not very hardworking and reliable.
So far this experience has been very demanding, much more than I had expected, but I think that commitment to work and passion can make the difference and help you to face any kind of difficulty. I’ve been learning a lot: without any doubt, starting Bookolico was the best experience I’ve ever had. I’d advise anyone who is interested in running his/her own business to start a startup, which is neither a small version of a large Company nor a young Company. A startup is a way of thinking, it’s a dynamic activity which can easily adapt to changes. It has a young and fresh imprint because it’s run by young people with a modern way of thinking. In Italy startups are a relatively new phenomenon and we’re still following the example of some pioneers. I believe that this Country needs to develop a “smoother” and “straighter” way of thinking to rise again, because it’s still in the grip of its bureaucracy and this makes things complicated.
Through Bookolico we strive to make the publishing process smoother. Our goal is to create a new business model which is more suitable to the eBook product and can make writers and readers the real “protagonists” of the market.
