A much shorter yearly review. The 12th of my life. With what I learned, no fluff.
You can find previous reviews here: 02014, 02015, 02016, 02017, 02018, 02019, 02020, 02021, 02022, 02023, 02024.
Gratitude
In 02025 I ran my dream business and made enough money to live off it. That’s a dream.
Mission
My mission is helping brilliant people thrive in the AI transition.
In 02025 I began to feel this more clearly.
Thanks
With Liubov (Design) & Thomas (Video) my creativity this year has been multiplied.
I did a lot
In 02025 I defined the new Matteo Cassese branding.
I published 31 videos.
I started the year doing YouTube for views. I ended the year doing YouTube for branding.
I shot 2 documentaries showing my work with actual clients.
I shot a promo that actually transmits the value and the vibe of the work I do.
I shot 4 talks.
I ran my own events. I ran 3 retreats at the farm. Many farm days with individual clients. 10+ stage talks including leadership retreats.
I invited the car community to the farm for the second year in a row. And hosted my first Berlin Brain Trust BBQ.
I sent 49 newsletters and did 57K impressions on LinkedIn with my posts.
Some of these are not just items on a to do list. They are compounding assets I will continue to build upon in years to come.
What I didn’t finish
Founder Journey series of videos. I had a great creative drive to create all of this content for the in person retreats but I never managed to finally publish it.
It’s strange because it’s the work I felt most called to share.
It sits next to another unfinished thing. Systematizing outreach the way I want.
Dating was another incomplete project of the year. I went on a few meaningful dates in the first half of the year, and none in the second.
With doing comes limitations
While I was accomplishing I fell into the simple and dumb mindset of measuring views. Waiting for algorithms to pick up my content. Measuring my worth in views, subscribers, sales closing rate.
Around end of March and into April I kept trying to understand why I was so busy. I approached it from runway level. Necessary tasks. Recurring tasks. To do lists.
The more honest explanation is that I was accomplishing a lot at the same time. Talks. Conferences. Sales calls. Shooting videos. Shooting documentaries. Starting edits.
Some overwhelm was realistic. Some was avoidable.
The root of the problem is that I was still trying to win games I don’t even want to play.
Views. Algorithms. Closing rates. Proving.
It’s not that those metrics are useless. It’s that they are a terrible proxy for what I actually care about.
They make me forget the compounding assets. They make me forget the mission.
I started with a complex plan
I documented it here.
I wanted not just to run retreats, one on one coaching and talks. I also wanted to run a mastermind container.
For the first 6 months of the year this level of complexity was still an interesting challenge to me.
The adult move
In February I switched accountants.
I finally did the thing that I needed to do all along.
It was painful because it forced me to admit I picked the wrong partner.
It was heavy because it forced me to decide who to trust.
It’s a boring administrative detail. It also felt symbolic. Less tolerance for friction. More respect for the craft. More respect for my time.
I have a simpler plan
The compounding of no is real. No to workshops and to group work.
The preference is clearer now: either one on one or speaking.
I want to go where I am called and where I am great.
Today I am quite sure I run a simpler business.
As an expert I offer three things.
- Keynote Speaking. This year I gave a fair share of free keynotes and a good number of paid ones. I know how to advertise myself as a speaker and I will do marketing as a speaker this year.
- One on one business coaching. I love working one on one and I will continue to do so. I have strong relationships with few people. I will continue nurturing my clients. Business coaching is the driver of revenue and incubator of ideas.
- Founder communication. More and more technical founders find themselves in the spotlight and need to persuade markets, investors and future employees. I am in a unique position to help them. Founder led growth is the driver of new leads and deals.
As a founder I am working at exciting partnerships and business ideas for 2026. More on that in the next year.
Why speaking
Speaking changed my relationship to value. The relationship I am building is with the audience first. That is where value is released.
Then what is in it for me is mostly the relationship with organizers and other speakers. Being in that room with founders and CEOs and organizers. Another layer of value is released there.
A pragmatic learning at the end of the year is that I can work with learning and development providers. I do not need to go alone to all of the clients for leadership retreats. That is a real partnership path.
The shadow soundtrack
There was a recurring theme underneath everything.
Self judgment. Effort. Results. Never enough.
Sometimes it was about work. Sometimes it was about my body. Sometimes it was about solitude. Sometimes it was about the story I tell about myself.
My sessions with Julien and his brilliant Presence Partner project are supporting me here.
Creative pull
I am undeniably attracted by creative projects and I have a shiny object syndrome. This is not a bug, I can play around it.
Managing my energy
Middle of the year I had a realization about energy.
After work I would have this excited, elevated energy, and it was really hard to come down and do the rest of the day like a normal human being.
Then I realized the problem isn’t coming down from the high. The problem is the high.
So I started reducing the energy I devote to work and creativity.
Not because I want less creative intensity. Because I want a day that still has me in it after work. Meals. Walking. Life. Normal energy.
I wrote a practical checklist. Do less during the day. Sleep more. Go to bed earlier. Take a long nap if it does not interfere with sleep. Prioritize physical activities over work.
Oura became a real tool, not a gadget.
The sleep calibration helped me understand something I kept resisting. I sleep better the earlier I go to bed. The longer I can sleep. The later I can wake up.
Eating earlier correlates with better sleep quality. It also showed me I was finishing work too late to get a really high quality sleep.
Late in the year my sleep depth dropped close to zero.
Where my energy comes from
I was incredibly consistent in 02025 with strength training three times a week, cardio two to three times a week and walking 8.000 steps every day. Plus sleeping consistently 7,5+ hours.
This is something I wouldn’t change and I will not change in 02026.
If you were on a sales call with me read this
The discovery call mistake is one of the biggest lessons of 02025.
Most discovery calls were either coaching or diagnosing. Too deep. Too unguided.
I guided the person well but almost never to a definite outcome. The lack of outcome, even if there was a ton of value and a ton of goodwill released during the call, created a disconnect.
They felt possibly quite naked in the process of opening up with me and found that super easy, but then found it super hard to then connect that meeting to a project.
I have an idea on how to fix this.
A first conversation can still be deep.
But it needs a concrete outcome. A tangible next step. A shallow objective that we can actually complete.
And then we can go as deep as we want on the way there.
I underestimated storytelling
In 02024 I thought I needed to have an elevated offer, otherwise the market wouldn’t see my value.
At the end of this year, I had a reframing that softened everything. As an elevated individual, it does not matter if I do small work. I can do everything in an elevated way.
My offer can be pragmatic and simple (like help you rehearse a presentation for a big event). Who delivers it is the high value.
The way I show up is the elevated bit.
This is also why I am rethinking how I structure first conversations.
Deep work, but towards a concrete outcome.
Fix your pitch. Make you investor ready. Rehearse the keynote for the big event. Write the memo. Clarify the story.
The destination on the plane ticket does not need to be far away for the work to become profound.
Narrow wide
October 16 I found a marketing simplification that might be the whole playbook.
Narrow and wide.
Outreach is narrow. One on one. Partner networks. Direct connecting.
Then nothing in the middle.
Then blast to wide. YouTube. LinkedIn posts. No CTA. Pure branding.
I don’t think I need a funnel.
I need direct relationships. Then public signal.
A person like me does not need more than outreach and branding. Narrow and wide.
In November I began considering hiring a partnership manager and a brand manager.
Brand manager translates everything into materials that can be shared.
The partnership manager would deal with most of the outreach. The one that is beyond the network of people that I already know.
02026 will be Narrow Wide.
A storm still brewing
The storm is real. It shaped the second half of the year.
I am not writing about it here.
It will be included in the 02026 review, when it is actually cleared and I can talk about it cleanly.
I meet my storm with my true self
A core identity insight returned this year.
My default coping strategy is freedom. I subconsciously ask myself: “What is the option that affords me more freedom?”
That is how I regulate. That is also how I make bold decisions.
Every time I try not to disrupt, to reduce friction for others, I go crazy inside.
I can be empathetic, but I need to be a force for change most of the time.
I am a disruptor. A creative destroyer.
Denying it costs me too much.
Here’s to a 02026 of creative destruction.