About Giacomo Martignon

Investor & Entrepreneur.

Today I am a private investor, or actually an entrepreneur, since – with my brother – we acquire businesses and we manage them hands-on, day to day. Sometimes with equity partners, but always holding a control position.

We are interested in businesses that can be bought cheaply, because they are in their infancy or in trouble, but have huge potential. Our focus is on products Made in Italy with global appeal.

We try to do this with fun, with friends, and with fairness. No, I don’t think these 3F will have any traction as a new framework in business schools, but that’s what we really practice.

Particle Physicist.

The first 4 years of my working life were in particle accelerators, first at CERN in Geneva and then at Fermilab in Chicago. At CERN I worked in the LHC-CMS experiment, testing the silicon vertex detector and the possibility to detect CP violation in the decay of B mesons. At Fermilab I worked in the CDF collaboration, the most exciting experiment in those days.

Those were incredible places and times, I could sit for lunch with Nobel prizes in the lab canteen. Which gave me some perspective on when it is appropriate to say “is complicated” or “is very intelligent” or “is a sophisticated model”.

Management Consultant.

When I was a kid, I read in the newspaper about this elite management school in Fontainebleau – it sounded like the top of the world, almost mystical. Some things stick in your imagination. I got my MBA from INSEAD in 2000.

From there, I was hired by McKinsey&Company – a truly outstanding firm. Hard to think of a better company to work for: brilliant brains, challenging problems, visionary leaders, intellectual integrity, knowledge&learning on steroids. And a global view: I stayed “on mission” in 17 different countries. There I gained some perspective on what it means “it’s hard work” or “it can’t be done”.

CIO at vulture fund.

In 2007 I was in the USA, and the mounting financial crisis felt like a once in a lifetime event. I went back to Italy to join some friends as Chief Investment Officer in a start-up investment fund, Jupiter Finance, that was aimed at “surfing” the imminent wave of NPLs in Italy.

We were in the perfect place, the first fund was half a billion committed by the CIR Group and Mediobanca … but the big wave came 10 years later — Italy is not the most reactive place! Still, we managed to close dozens and dozens of small deals and create a company that eventually became the biggest independent NPL servicer in Italy and was recently valued 450 mil EUR.

Italian in London.

I come from a small village near Venice. So small that we had no idea of what we did not have. In fact, I felt very privileged: we had an old house full of books, great role models in the family, and I was a quick learner.

I was lucky: the nearest University, in Padova, had a great department of Physics; I graduated cum laude and I was going to Chicago the following day.

After four years in Chicago, and one in France, home has been Milan, then NYC, and now London.

Not on social media.

I am not present in social media — only placeholders. I know I must open my Facebook account, have not done that yet. The thing is: it is so difficult to put together something interesting enough that I would like to read it or watch it. To be fair, I’ve tried a few Tweets without anyone listening … and still it felt like I was contributing to pollution. My impression is that even Einstein would have gone down in history as a moron if he had to post something every day.

Without social media, I cannot prove my truly special achievement: I am with the real wonder woman and we have the most amazing kids ever.