Some people enter a project and leave something that outlives the project itself. For ShowMe, Stefano Ceci was that kind of person: a mentor who pushed us to make an idea more concrete while we were still absorbed mainly by its possibilities.
With Roberto Lorusso, I was trying to turn ShowMe into more than an intuition. We had energy, content and the desire to build, but lacked entrepreneurial experience, access to the right conversations and a method for separating enthusiasm from evidence. Through our contacts, we reached Stefano and presented the project.
The relationship lasted around a year or a little longer and remained informal. We also discussed possible equity involvement and sketched an agreement, but never reached a structure that should now be described as a formal shareholding. What mattered most to me was not the corporate arrangement: it was the practical work he did with us without asking for payment.
A mentor does not replace reality
Stefano helped us organise the pitch, explain the problem more clearly and see ShowMe from the perspective of someone expected to invest, collaborate or use the product. He pushed us to validate, speak with capable people and look for real signals. He did not magically turn an idea into a company or decide for us; he made mental shortcuts harder.
That is one of mentorship's most useful functions. People inside a project tend to read every positive response as confirmation and every obstacle as something to solve later. An honest outsider repeatedly brings the conversation back to difficult questions: who genuinely needs this, what behaviour have we observed, and what is still missing before someone makes a commitment?
Opening conversations, not promising outcomes
Stefano shared contacts and helped us approach people we would have struggled to reach alone, including the LVenture Group ecosystem and the founders of Reasoned Art. Those introductions were neither funding nor guarantees. They were opportunities to test the quality of the project in front of people accustomed to assessing entrepreneurial initiatives.
The distinction now feels essential. A mentor can lend credibility to a first conversation, but cannot transfer permanent credibility to a project. After the introduction come preparation, listening and the substance of the proposition. A network is valuable not because it bypasses validation, but because it brings you sooner to the places where validation actually happens.
“Forward!”
The word I most readily associate with Stefano is “Avanti!” — “Forward!”. It was how he ended a conversation and also a posture: do not let doubts, revisions and closed doors become immobility. It did not mean moving blindly. It meant turning each encounter into a concrete next step.
"“Forward!” was not a promise that the project would work. It was a reminder to keep testing it."
The word stayed with me partly because ShowMe did not ultimately become a functioning company. That outcome makes the lesson less comfortable and more credible. Mentorship does not guarantee success, and good advice does not erase limits of market, execution, time or team. It can, however, change how those limits are approached.
What remains after the project ends
When a project stops, it is easy to measure it only through what it failed to produce: revenue, growth and continuity. That measure is necessary but incomplete. ShowMe gave me experience in building a narrative, speaking with investors, receiving objections and distinguishing a convincing presentation from actual validation. Part of that learning carries the mark of my relationship with Stefano.
Over time, the relationship faded. I do not want to turn it retrospectively into something more continuous or solemn than it was. That is precisely why it is worth telling: some people matter deeply in a specific phase and then paths separate. A relationship no longer being part of everyday life does not erase what it enabled at the time.
Today, I consider a mentor useful not when they supply definitive answers, but when they improve the questions, open relevant conversations and require intentions to become verifiable actions. The project need not become a success story for that method to endure. Sometimes the most lasting thing built by a project that stops is the way it teaches us to move forward.
Continue with ShowMe: what remains of a project that never became a company and Not every idea has to become a company.
