---
aliases: ["Stefano Villa"]
Is A: Person
Tier: "3rd 🥉"
Tags: ["Friend"]
---
# Stefano Villa

Old colleague from Luca's pre-Refactoring days when they worked together at a Milan-based tech company. Stefano is now VP of Engineering at a fast-growing Milan scale-up, managing a team of about 60 engineers. They stay in touch through occasional lunches and WhatsApp exchanges, sharing perspectives from their very different vantage points: Luca running an indie content business, Stefano navigating the politics and growth challenges of a scale-up engineering organization.

## Notes

- His career trajectory represents the path Luca chose not to take, which makes their conversations interesting to both of them
- Provides Luca with useful insider perspective on what engineering leaders at scale-ups actually care about, which informs podcast content
- Pragmatic and politically savvy; understands organizational dynamics in a way that Luca respects
- Has recommended several good podcast guests from his professional network

## Collaborations

- [[topic-team-leadership]] — ongoing conversations about engineering leadership at different scales
- [[procedure-podcast-guest-outreach]] — has referred several guests from his professional network
