Thursday, June 26, 2025 – Day 11
5:00 AM – Officina22, Side Office
A bell clinked outside as Luca unlocked the front of Officina22, letting in a shaft of soft morning light and the familiar scent of roasted espresso.
Luca saw the light in the side office on, " I wonder if he slept at all, the boy should take it easy", he thought to himself, " though, I am just an old man, what should I know?" he chuckled to himself.
He checked inside the side office. Leo was at the whiteboard, sketching a delivery funnel for what he labeled: Modena SKUs – Baldini Priority.
"Baldini, I should check them", he muttered under his breath. He was also curious to check the team board joke, which had become a daily routine. The team board had written:
Warm Leads– Stuttgart– Cologne– Hamburg
Follow-Ups Needed– Munich– Leipzig– Frankfurt
Funny But Useless Sticker Count: 6– Penguin– "Procure or Die"– A fake ISO-9001 badge with a smiley face
Luca almost burst laughing, "Here's a team that takes itself way too seriously, enforces rigid rules like life depends on it, and proudly displays a meaningless quality badge with a grin—because appearances matter more than actual quality. Nice one, guys! you are improving." During all this time, Leo didn't notice him, he was too focused, so Luca decided to go to his office to finish some tax papers that we due by the end of June, before going to the counter to open the student bar officially.
7:52 AM - Officina22, Side Office
Giulia leaned in the doorway, holding a cold pear juice from the bar fridge.
"You slept here again?" she asked.
Leo looked up, bleary-eyed but sharp. "No. Just got here early."
"You spelled 'logistics' wrong."
"I'm running on caffeine and optimism."
Sofia sat at her desk, pulling up CRM tabs. "Turin firm today?"
Giulia nodded. "I'll dial. You do the pitch if it picks up."
Leo glanced at them, grateful but focused. "Just get a signal on their main points. I'll loop back once Giorgio is sorted."
9:17 AM – CRM Dashboard, Leo's Terminal
Client: Officine Baldini – Ricambi & CNC SolutionsLocation: Modena, Emilia-RomagnaStatus: Active Lead – Strategic PriorityRequest: 100 SKUs – Quoted by FridayContact: Giorgio Baldini (CEO/Founder)
Leo scrolled through their company page. CNC milling, rapid prototyping, and a legacy supplier to automotive tier-two firms. Big enough to matter, small enough to move fast. A perfect target.
He checked his inbox. Giorgio's reply had come in late last night.
"Under review. The quote looks clean. Come to Modena on Friday. Noon."
Leo replied: "Confirmed. Working with our internal team today to align the supplier chain and ERP quote matching. See you Friday."
Then he turned back to the spreadsheet. Pricing logic, SKU matching, supply redundancy checks—if this worked, Baldini could become their showcase Italian client.
9:49 AM – The Girls' Desk
"Ringing," Giulia said, holding the phone slightly away from her ear.
Sofia mouthed: "Which one is this?"
Giulia pointed to the lead sheet: ProtoForma Srl – Turin – Custom 3D Parts / Tooling
"ProtoForma, buongiorno," a voice answered. Gruff but alert.
"Hi, this is Giulia from Kronos Parts. We help manufacturers source hard-to-find and legacy components. We called you last week. I saw you posted a tooling prototype photo last month—are you sourcing those locally?"
A pause. Then: "Some. Why?"
"We have a mixed sourcing model with access to North Italian and Iberian precision shops. We're helping a few firms reduce lead time from 19 days to 5. You open to a sample quote?"
Another pause. Sofia clicked her pen.
"Send me something," the voice said. "Aluminum threading, M10, dual tolerance. I'll know if you're full of it."
Click.
Giulia turned to Sofia. "That was a maybe."
Sofia smiled. "That was a challenge."
10:12 AM – Whiteboard, Side Office
Leo updated the left column under Baldini Deal Pipeline:
Quote Reviewed
Meeting Scheduled – Friday 12:00
SKU Validation – In Progress
Regional Supplier Tree – Live Mapping
He switched tabs to a sheet labeled ERP Fork – Baldini Only. Clean, minimal, focused.
Luca walked past the frosted glass wall, holding a tray of affogatos for a waiting couple. He paused slightly, hearing the tail end of Sofia's phone call.
"…If your tolerances are tighter than 0.01, we'll flag that early in the BOM request. We don't overpromise."
Luca smiled faintly and moved on.
11:41 AM – Group Chat: Kronos Crew
Giulia:The Turin guy gave us a test spec. Aluminum threading, M10, dual tolerance. Wants proof we're not full of it 😂
Leo:Run it. Use the Vercelli and Parma suppliers first. Clean BOM. If it passes, we keep him warm.
Sofia:Vercelli guy is slow but reliable. I'll prep the RFQ.
Leo:Thanks. For now, I'm full Modena.
He pinged another line to himself:
"Don't fumble, Baldini. Italy-first showcase deal. Stick the landing."
Even though the office was small and they communicated verbally, they used the group chat if they were not available at the same time.
2:25 PM – Side Office, Inventory Simulation Tool
Leo fed Giorgio's 100 SKUs into the simulation tool. Category splits: 40% CNC-milled alloy pieces, 35% rubber mounts and custom gaskets, 25% standard bolts and fasteners.
He muttered aloud: "Low margin, high complexity. Classic Modena."
He tweaked a slider. By limiting suppliers to those in Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy, his fulfillment model dropped average lead time by 28%. Margins took a hit, but reliability surged.
Trade-off accepted.
3:03 PM – Overheard Through the Wall
Luca, organizing a wine tasting for Friday evening, paused as he heard Giulia burst out laughing.
"What did he say?" she asked Sofia.
"He said we're the only people under 30 who've called him about steel tolerances in the last six months."
"Wait, did we just flirt via metallurgy?"
Leo almost fell from his desk: "Just make sure we close before you marry the guy."
Luca chuckled under his breath.
4:18 PM – Internal Task Board
Giulia updated the shared whiteboard.
→ Thursday To-Do Recap:✅ Giorgio SKUs simulated✅ Friday meeting confirmed (Modena)✅ ProtoForma (Turin) test call complete✅ Sample spec inbound✅ ERP fork for Baldini created✅ CRM notes updated
At the bottom, she added:
"Modena > Turin? > Berlin? "
5:33 PM – Leo's Desk
Leo leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. Tomorrow was make-or-break. Giorgio had the kind of old-school Italian precision mindset that respected detail, humility, and competence. No spin. No disruption talk. Just parts that worked, on time, every time.
He'd bring Sofia and Giulia along if they got confirmation on the aluminum quote. Otherwise, Modena would be a solo mission.
He checked the shared whiteboard and smiled at the last note.
Leo opened his tracking sheet, fingers hovering over the keyboard as he skimmed through the growing list. Eleven days in, and the numbers were finally gaining shape. Six real contacts logged: three buyers from Lorenzo's LinkedIn post, one Turkish supplier from an earlier lead, the Turin-based 3D printing firm the girls had just called, and now Giorgio Baldini from Modena. Tomorrow's meeting with Giorgio would mark their first real physical visit—a critical milestone. No verbal confirmations yet, but ProtoForma had shown genuine interest, and Giorgio seemed close. "5 physical visits, 3 verbal, 1 MoU..." Leo muttered, glancing at the goals pinned on the side of his screen. Still a long road ahead, but with six contacts and one meeting locked in, they were finally moving from idea to traction.
He opened a voice memo app on his phone and muttered:
Goals 30 days:
10 real contacts-> 6 reached so far ( 3 from Lorenzo's LinkedIn post, 1 Turkish supplier lead, the Turin-based 3D printing firm, and Giorgio Baldini from Modena)
5 physical visits->1 scheduled for tomorrow (Meeting with Giorgio Baldini in Modena on Friday)
3 verbal confirmation -> 0 (ProtoForma and Baldini both showing strong early interest)
1 signed MoU-> None yet
He hit save, and left home, he needed to sleep, tomorrow was an important day.