Cosmico, the start-up that connects talent with companies

Forget the old and obsolete 'we will let you know', that corporate formula that accompanied until recently the conclusion of interviews for possible employment. Today, in the world of work, which has been turned upside down compared to the rituals and expectations of the past, it is the exponents of the elusive Generation Z, the one made up of the very young in their late twenties, who dictate the rules to companies desperate for talent, saying in no uncertain terms: 'I will let you know if I am interested in coming to work for you'. The epochal shift is all encapsulated in this change of perspective. Thus, the new paradigm represents a Copernican revolution that favours the balancing of professional and personal life, the adherence of the company's purpose to the values of the individual, the flexibility of work in time and space, the declination of one's passions even in company projects.

Summarising this overturned assumption is Cosmico, a Milan-based scaleup that connects individual talent with organisations. Everything goes through a proprietary platform that creates the perfect match between the freelancer and the organisation. A connection that redefines the way and place of work. "We started in February 2020, before the emergence phase, from a vision of talent being free to express itself. Then the pandemic accelerated the possibility of working remotely. Today the world of work is changing fast, as is the use of space. For us, the concept of the wellbeing of the individual remains at the centre of everything'. So says Francesco Marino, co-founder and CEO of Cosmico, born in 1990, born in Catania and Milanese by adoption, with a classical high school diploma and a degree in business economics in his pocket, followed by a master's degree in digital economics at H-Farm and a career as a startupper.

"We anticipated the labour revolution linked to the pandemic and the phenomenon of large resignations. It all stemmed from the desire to be able to give concrete answers to those companies unsuccessfully looking for talent on the market. The lack of profiles made us realise that it was necessary to create a bridge between these worlds,' explains Marino, who shares the corporate axis with Matteo Roversi and Simone Tornabene. It is the philosophy of talent as-a-service imported from the United States and echoing that software as-a-service that has dominated the technology scene since its inception. But now the focus is on people, no longer on technology.

Thus Cosmico, an evocative name linked to space dimensions far away from planet Earth, allows companies, start-ups, consultancy firms and agencies to collaborate with the best digital talent in the fields of design, coding, marketing, communication, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. Today, the company has a turnover of EUR 4.5 million and recently closed a EUR 4 million round with a forecast of EUR 10 million by 2024. The company has 20,000 talents spread across the country in more than 150 companies. These include excellent companies such as NTT Data, Fjord, Capgemini, Huawei, Alkemy, Scalapay, Publicis Sapient, Ogilvy, Hibo, Facile.it. But beware. This scaleup is not making a principled battle to preserve remote working. "What matters is choice, i.e. the ability for each talent to express itself at its best. We want to redefine a new working model, through distributed working. As we connect the jobs of organisations with the skills of talent, we bring them closer and closer to each other, accelerating the transition to a new way of working,' says Marino.

The headquarters are in the beating heart of Milan, in Piazza Diaz, a stone's throw from the Duomo. But space becomes just a convention. 'Talents can work anywhere, side by side live or remotely. We are not made to stay only in the office. That is why we rent co-living villas where people can be in the same space, working and being together. Community is central: we organise more than sixty free webinars a year and physical moments with our meetups,' Marino says. Now from Italy they are looking to Europe with the recent opening of the Madrid office. "Talents from all over the world will determine the future of work. They are already taking back control of their own work sphere and claim a leading role. They value work as much as their lifestyle. They seek valuable and ever new experiences, they want to build relationships, to go deeper to discover more about the world and themselves. To interact with them, companies need to change their approach. They must transform their structure from a hierarchical pyramid to a fluid work network divided into teams. They must give people autonomy, lead them with trust, not control,' Marino concludes. Once again in organisations, trust becomes the secret weapon to win the battle for talent.