From Near Miss to People's Choice: Federico Soressi's Linkable Journey and Demo Night Triumph

Welcome, community! It's always a joy to gather and share stories from our vibrant startup ecosystem. As many of you know, City Ventures, in collaboration with Canopy, hosts regular Demo Nights. These aren't your typical pitch events; they're about learning, sharing, and getting real feedback. Stewart, who runs the international startup networking group Canopy, describes it best: Demo Night aims to fill the gaps for founders, offering critical feedback from peers and a diverse audience to reveal those blind spots we all have.

Recently, we celebrated another fantastic Demo Night, and I had the pleasure of chatting with the People's Choice winner, Federico Soressi, the young and dynamic founder of Linkable. His journey, persistence, and the story behind his win truly embody the spirit of entrepreneurship we foster here.

The Spark: Solving a Real-World Problem

Federico's path to creating Linkable started not in a boardroom, but during his university days organising student nights. Faced with selling 2,000 tickets for a big event with only 24 hours to go and barely any sales, panic set in. They decided to pivot their marketing strategy, offering free tickets to micro-influencers in exchange for social media posts. The result? A sold-out event, powered entirely by creator content. This experience planted a seed. Years later, working with agency clients facing similar marketing challenges, Federico revisited this idea, realising the problem was much bigger than he initially thought.

Linkable: Authentic Connections for Growth

This led to the creation of Linkable, now running for about a year and a half. Linkable is an all-in-one platform designed to help e-commerce brands find the right creators for authentic, performance-based partnerships. Federico highlighted a key pain point for early-stage brands: finding relevant creators and, crucially, tracking the actual performance of their campaigns. Linkable tackles this by streamlining the entire partnership process – discovery, management, real-time performance tracking (like sales and traffic generated), and even payments. It offers a single ecosystem, saving time and money compared to juggling multiple tools or expensive agencies. Already, Linkable serves around 20 paying brands and 200 creators, demonstrating early traction for its marketplace model.

The Demo Night Experience: Feedback and Serendipity

Federico's participation in Demo Night almost didn't happen due to some last-minute admin hurdles. As Stuart recounted, they were close to dropping him, but Federico's persistence ("Dude, I totally flew back for this. You've got to let me do this.") secured his spot. And it paid off – he won the People's Choice vote!

Why Demo Night? Federico initially attended as an audience member, valuing the chance to hear directly from potential users. He emphasized the importance for founders to get out and test their ideas:
> "Sometimes we end up obsessing about the problem we're trying to solve without really getting some live feedback from what could be our potential audience... It's really important to get out there and see what people think about what you're building".

He appreciated the directness of the live voting system, noting that friends and family can sometimes be "a little bit too polite," whereas Demo Night provides the "raw feedback" founders need.

When asked about his 'secret sauce' for winning against other strong contenders, Federico pointed to a few things:

• Engagement:  He makes an effort to connect with the audience, having one-on-one conversations after the main pitch to dig deeper into questions
• Focus:   In short formats, he concentrates on a few key concepts rather than overwhelming the audience with too much information. "Sometimes the less you say, the better," he wisely noted
• Clarity:  Saying less but making it clear is often more effective than rushing through every detail.

Wisdom from a Young Founder

At 25, Federico has already gathered valuable experience. His advice for aspiring entrepreneurs resonates deeply with the journey many of us are on:
* Start Before You're Ready: "You're never going to be fully ready. So just give it a go... and then try to learn as much as possible as you go".
* Build Your Tribe: "Surround yourself with people which are like-minded... being surrounded by people that genuinely want to see you win and believe in what you're doing is critical". The entrepreneurial path has inevitable ups and downs, and a supportive network is crucial.
* Persist: "Persistency is absolutely key. It beats everything else"

Stewart echoed this sentiment, admiring Federico's persistence, his seizing of opportunities, and his commitment to giving back to the community, even taking time out during a trip to share his insights.

Join Our Community

Federico highly recommends the Demo Night experience for founders at any stage, calling it "a great occasion to meet like-minded founders, get valuable feedback, and be part of a community of like-minded people".

If you're inspired by Federico's story and want to experience the unique energy of Demo Night, join us! Our London events happen on the second Wednesday of each month. We're even moving to bigger venues to accommodate our growing community. Keep an eye on City Ventures (cityventures.co.uk) and Canopy for upcoming dates, including events leading up to London Tech Week and even international Demo Nights.

Federico's journey is a testament to the power of identifying a real need, the courage to start, the wisdom to seek feedback, and the persistence to see it through. We look forward to watching Linkable grow and celebrating more founders within our supportive ecosystem.

https://linkable.link/. Check out Linkable 

Connect with Federico https://www.linkedin.com/in/federicosoressi/ 

https://www.youtube.com/live/nqJNZ9Vq7yo?si=bwfHmhJ_H5C1N0d_. Watch the full interview back 

https://www.canopy.community/demo-night more about demo night and register your idea 

https://www.canopy.community/store join Canopy