Nova Blog - Put love in everything you write: Daniele Francescon on building Serenis and brand that sticks

Daniele Francescon: background and the path to Serenis

Daniele Francescon grew up in Casa del Serago, a town of 5,000 people near Padova. His father worked in local government administration; his mother was a teacher. "I genuinely didn't know what BCG was until a friend told me — 'you have to go to Milan, you have to work at McKinsey or BCG.'" The trajectory from small-town Italy to leading a mental health startup of national scale was not linear and was not planned.

What shaped him early was a combination of sport, a large family with three brothers (including a twin who became a priest — Daniele nearly followed him into the seminary), and the quiet ambition of someone who felt the edges of a small world and wanted to see beyond them. He studied economics at Padova, wrote his thesis on private equity after a visiting speaker made the world of finance sound exciting, and caught the attention of a professor who told him: "I'll only let you leave if you go to BCG, McKinsey or Bain."

Padova

Economics degree + PE thesis

BCG

Strategy consultant

MBA

Pause + network build

Nen (A2A)

Marketing lead, digital energy startup

Post Energia

Brand & marketing, Poste Italiane

Serenis

Co-Founder · 2022–present

Is an MBA worth it? An honest assessment

Daniele went into his MBA programme after BCG, deliberately using it as a pause to reflect before deciding what to build. His assessment is specific about what makes it worth the investment — and what doesn't.

When an MBA is and isn't worth it — Daniele's framework

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The pause and reset

Consulting is a treadmill that's very hard to step off. An MBA creates a structured moment to stop, reflect, and actually decide what you want to do next — rather than waking up 10 years later still at the same firm because the salary kept growing.

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The network is real

"Those people become your genuine friends — all high-potential, all ambitious. You find yourself 20 years later with friends who can actually help you." The relationships formed in an intensive year together are different in quality from professional networks built over time.

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Content quality is higher and more current

Business school case teaching — with practitioners who have lived the decisions — is more up-to-date than most academic programmes. You can go deep on any topic — AI, venture investing, organisational design — with real expert access.

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ROI depends on where and why

In international markets — US, UK — there are structured post-MBA career entry paths at top employers. In Italy, this infrastructure is less developed. If you're doing it for a credential alone, the cost-to-benefit is unfavourable. If you're using it for career redirection, especially international, the case is much stronger.

One detail that captures the real value: Daniele got into BCG not through a conventional application but by impressing in interviews at an MBA fair where BCG was a sponsor — before he'd even started the programme. BCG then offered him a role directly, deferring the MBA option. "I cried calling my best friend. I realised I'd managed to break out of the bubble."

How Nen was built: startup discipline inside a large company

Nen began as A2A's internal digital energy project — a "yet another digital attacker" (the internal codename was literally YADA) conceived to compete in the newly liberalised Italian energy retail market. Daniele joined as Innovation Manager, spotted the project in a due diligence document, and threw himself into it.

He had no marketing background. What he had was a willingness to learn: he spent the summer before September reading every marketing and digital marketing book he could find, then absorbed everything from the first hire — a marketing specialist who knew far more than he did. "Being a sponge" was the skill, not the knowledge itself.

The cultural challenge was real: convincing A2A's board that launching a new company in 9 months — an organisation where changing a CRM could take two years — required an autonomous team, a separate company structure, and "a group of mad people in a room." They got it. Nen launched, grew to 40 employees, and made enough noise that Poste Italiane came looking.

"When I first opened the due diligence documents and saw they were thinking of building a new digital company, I thought — this is incredible. I just threw myself in completely."

— Daniele Francescon

What are the three non-negotiable marketing principles for a digital startup?

Across Nen, Post Energia and Serenis, Daniele has developed a consistent marketing philosophy. Three principles have proven non-negotiable in each context.

Daniele Francescon's 3 marketing principles

Speed of execution — build an internal core team

In digital, iteration speed is a competitive advantage. Always maintain an internal team capable of producing, testing and adjusting quickly. Agencies are for big set-piece campaigns — TV spots, major activations. For the ongoing work of digital marketing, in-house speed wins. "An internal team creates economies of knowledge and scale that agencies can't replicate for the continuous work."

Word precision — especially in sensitive categories

In sectors like mental health, the exact words you choose carry clinical, legal and emotional weight. Knowing which words work — and which can cause harm or mistrust — is a hard-won skill. "Having people who know which words we can use, and which work best, is a resource. You earn it by getting burned a couple of times and learning from it." This requires internal expertise, not just copywriting.

Everything is communication — coherence across every touchpoint

The battle at Post Energia over using "tu" vs "lei" (informal vs formal address) in different channels captures this precisely: if your website says "tu" and your letters say "lei," the user registers inconsistency as inauthenticity. "The advertising is always a lie — then when you actually engage with them, they're something else entirely." Every piece of writing, in every context, either builds or erodes brand trust.

What is the Pollicino strategy — and how to use it in your brand

The "Pollicino strategy" — named after the Italian fairy tale character (Hansel and Gretel's equivalent) who leaves a trail of breadcrumbs — is Daniele's operating philosophy for brand-building at the level of every individual communication moment.

The premise: most companies treat their highest-visibility communications (advertising campaigns, homepage copy) as "brand" and everything else (error messages, contracts, invoice footers, onboarding emails) as functional. Daniele treats everything as brand.

The Pollicino strategy in practice

Serenis contracts have a one-page plain-language cover sheet: "I'm not kidding — this is the contract in simple words. On page 7 you'll find the fee. Here are the five things you need to know if you don't want to read the whole thing."

A therapist deciding whether to join Serenis picks up that document and doesn't consciously think "great brand." But they do think: "I feel like I'm in the right place."

That's the breadcrumb. Seed warmth — which Daniele simply calls "love" — everywhere. Button labels, app error messages, payment confirmations, cookie policies. The cumulative effect is a brand that feels coherent, human and trustworthy at every point of contact. Not because of any single element, but because the trail of breadcrumbs is consistent throughout.

"Whatever you write, wherever it appears — in the app, the site, anywhere — it's communication. It leaves an impression. You can choose to give people the dry version, or you can leave them a little love."

— Daniele Francescon

Why 1 in 5 people start therapy saying it's because of work — and why work almost never is the real cause

Serenis's intake questionnaire has been completed hundreds of thousands of times. The data on why people start therapy is one of the most revealing datasets in the Italian mental health space.

Approximately one in five new users reports work-related problems as their primary reason for seeking help — stress, burnout, conflict with a manager, feeling unable to cope. After four or five sessions, once a therapist has enough information to formulate a clinical diagnosis, more than 90% of those cases reveal a primary diagnosis unrelated to work.

"Work is not where the problem is. It's where you notice the symptoms — because you're there for eight hours a day under pressure, with all the dynamics that brings. It's like my shoulder: the physiotherapist could keep treating my shoulder, but the actual cause was something else entirely." Work is the symptom surface. The root is almost always deeper: an anxiety disorder, a relational pattern, an unprocessed experience. Therapy helps reach it; the workplace just makes it visible first.

Daniele's own entry into therapy came exactly this way: persistent tension in his shoulder during an unhappy stretch at Post Energia. His physiotherapist eventually told him: "Dani, if this keeps coming back, there's not much that's physical. Go and talk to someone." He had never considered therapy. He didn't know anyone who went. "This wasn't on my horizon at all." A few weeks in: "It was completely wild — I had been dealing with obviously psychosomatic symptoms for years and going to a physiotherapist."

Frequently asked questions about Serenis, marketing and mental health

What is Serenis and how does it work?

Serenis is Italy's leading digital mental health platform, connecting patients with over 2,700 licensed therapists and professionals via an app. An intake questionnaire matches users to the right professional; the platform manages scheduling, payments, session continuity and care management. Serenis also publishes daily mental health content reaching millions of people. Founded in January 2022 by Silvia Bassi and Daniele Francescon.

What is the Pollicino marketing strategy?

The Pollicino (breadcrumb) strategy is Daniele Francescon's brand philosophy: treat every piece of writing — button labels, error messages, contract cover pages, push notifications — as an opportunity to leave a small, positive emotional impression. No single touchpoint is large; the cumulative trail of warmth and consistency across all of them creates a strong emotional bond with the brand.

Is an MBA worth it in Italy?

Daniele's view: yes, for three reasons — forcing a career pause and reset; building a genuinely strong long-term network; and accessing higher-quality, more practical content. The ROI caveat: structured post-MBA career pathways exist in consulting, investment banking and big tech globally, but are less developed in the Italian market specifically. An MBA makes most sense if you intend to use it for an international career move or a significant career pivot.

Why do people think stress at work is a mental health issue, when it usually isn't?

Because work is where symptoms become visible. Serenis data from hundreds of thousands of intake responses shows ~20% of users cite work stress as their primary concern. After clinical assessment, over 90% of those cases have a primary diagnosis unrelated to work. People spend 8+ hours a day at work under pressure — it becomes the place where underlying anxiety, relational patterns or other conditions first break through. The workplace reveals the symptom; therapy finds the cause.

What makes a strong marketing team for a digital health startup?

According to Daniele Francescon: an internal core capable of fast iteration and testing (not agency-dependent for ongoing work), deep word-level precision (especially critical in sensitive health contexts), and a culture where every team member treats all communication as brand-building. Speed, word craft, and coherence across every touchpoint — these are the three non-negotiables.

⚡ Lightning round

A failure you're grateful for?

Not getting into the MBA programme I originally applied for. BCG told me to come work for them instead — and that changed everything. I'm grateful for being terrible at those MBA interviews.

Values from home you still carry?

Dedication, discretion, doing the things you're given well. And tolerance — growing up in a big family forces you to develop interpersonal skills early.

What two months of full paternity leave taught you?

Oxygen. The importance of not making compromises you'll regret — I used to miss weddings for slide decks. I'll never again accept that as an acceptable trade-off. Doing what you could do, when you could do it, matters.

Most surprising thing about 10 days of Vipassana silence?

After 2–3 days without conversation or human contact, your mind goes to places you didn't know existed. You reach levels of awareness and sensitivity that are genuinely confronting. Traumatic in the best possible sense. I'd been meditating for two years already when my therapist recommended I read a book on mindfulness — and I realised the two paths had been leading to the same place all along.

Should all managers do therapy or psychological training?

Yes. Managers hold people's heads in their hands — their happiness, their anxiety. A bad manager causes real psychological harm. Even without therapy specifically, training in the psychology of people should be a baseline requirement for managing others.

🔑 Key takeaways

Everything is communication — treat it that way. The Pollicino strategy: every touchpoint, including the ones no one thinks of as "brand", either builds trust or erodes it. The trail of small moments of warmth across an entire product experience is what creates emotional loyalty.

Coherence across channels is non-negotiable. If your brand voice changes register between your website, your app and your letters, users notice — and they interpret the inconsistency as inauthenticity. The battle over "tu vs lei" at Post Energia was not pedantic. It was fundamental.

Work is where symptoms show up — not where problems live. Serenis data: 1 in 5 users starts therapy citing work stress. After clinical assessment, 90%+ have a primary diagnosis unrelated to work. Understanding this changes how leaders think about employee wellbeing — and how individuals should think about their own.

Build startup culture inside big companies by separating the team. Both Nen and Post Energia succeeded by creating autonomous teams with their own budget and velocity, not by trying to move the mothership faster. Cultural digestion is a real challenge — being "digestible" to the organisation is a skill as important as execution.

The MBA's real value is pause, network and depth — not credential. A structured pause to think, classmates who become lifelong allies, and the ability to go deep on any topic with real practitioners: these justify the cost. The credential alone does not, especially in the Italian market.

Being a sponge is a skill. Daniele became Nen's marketing lead over a summer of intensive reading despite zero formal marketing background. Knowing you don't know something — and aggressively absorbing from someone who does — is often more valuable than formal expertise.

Daniele Francescon

Co-Founder · Serenis

Originally from Casa del Serago (Padova), economics graduate from Università di Padova. Career path: BCG consultant → MBA → Innovation Manager at A2A → Marketing lead at Nen (Italy's first digital energy startup) → Brand and marketing at Post Energia (Poste Italiane) → Co-founded Serenis in January 2022 with Silvia Bassi. Serenis is Italy's leading digital mental health platform with 2,700+ professionals and millions of daily readers. Known for his marketing philosophy of brand coherence, word precision and the "Pollicino strategy" for building brand love at every touchpoint.

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Put love in everything you write: Daniele Francescon on building Serenis and brand that sticks