Davide’s entrepreneurial journey began a few years ago when he moved to Canada from Italy. Upon immigrating to Canada, he discovered that opportunities in his field of industrial design were limited to construction and oil and gas. After a year of searching for more diverse opportunities to no avail, he decided to create his dream job and launched his own startup, MatteRealize. His main motivation for starting his own company? He saw an opportunity to fill a gap in the marketplace, so decided to fill it doing something he’s passionate about.

Davide describes his company’s purpose very simply: he helps entrepreneurs and companies build products and get them to market. That’s industrial design in a nutshell.

In 2015, his little startup really took off after a year of hard work getting connected in Calgary’s business community. One of Davide’s first projects was to develop a vacuum-packed foam bed for camping, for a company called CompREST. He worked with them to develop concepts, finalize a concept and then create a 3D model that was used for a Kickstarter campaign. In addition to the work he has done in building his business and client base, Davide is also becoming an expert speaker. In fact, he recently was invited to speak at a conference in Vancouver to share his ideas on the future of 3D printing. This was a huge highlight for him, especially as a new entrepreneur and immigrant to Canada!

While Davide’s main market has been small companies, he’s discovered that entrepreneurs typically hire him for one-time projects. He now plans to approach larger companies, with goals of building solid relationships and longer-term contracts, so he can diversify his service offerings.  

We first met Davide late in 2015, when he reached out to us for help. He comments that meeting with David, our Business Services Manager, was one of the first positive meetings he had in a long time. Apparently, David took a real role in mentoring Davide, as he likens his approach to “a big brother.” He also provided Davide with some great business contacts, which have led to support from organizations like Innovate Calgary and InnoTech Alberta.

When asked what he’s learned starting his own business, Davide had a couple of key things he’d share with other entrepreneurs: 

  • It’s difficult to make it by yourself. Ask for help, and share what you are doing with as many people as possible.
  • You need to be able to explain what you do so that everyone can understand it.

The future holds a lot of opportunity for Davide and MatteRealize. As he so aptly puts it, “For me, everything is about the future.” In the next few months, he will be collaborating with Beakerhead, described as a smash up of art, science, and engineering. He will also be working with 3D Hubs in Calgary, which serves to connect people with 3D printers and design help, and also with N+1 Design Consulting. Perhaps most exciting, is his recent efforts to create a community for industrial design in Calgary via a new Meetup group, Calgary Product Design. 

We’re excited to see Davide’s startup grow and can’t wait to see what he has in store next. 

Want to learn more about Davide’s startup journey? Connect with him online or on social media!