I’m Marco, 21, Italian, working in marketing and communication as a solopreneur helping businesses grow their brand and reach.
My host entrepreneur is a CEO and investor running a startup that operates across multiple European and international markets (Boxie24). That was exactly what drew me in. My main expectation was to see, from the inside, how a foreign startup works at that scale and to learn from an environment very different from the Italian one.
I discovered EYE through a friend who told me about the program. The idea of gaining real entrepreneurial experience abroad, in a fast-moving company with an experienced founder, felt like the right step for me. I wanted to grow both professionally and personally, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do it.
During my EYE stay, I worked closely with my host and the marketing team on a wide range of activities. I reviewed and rebuilt the brand and verbal identity, managed UGC creator campaigns, set up automations and CRM workflows, and focused on optimizing the time of both the entrepreneur and the marketing manager so they could concentrate on what mattered most.
The relationship with my host was excellent from day one. He and his team supported me constantly, and they still do. In fact, they’ve become my clients, and the connection we built went far beyond the exchange itself. The experience meant so much to me that I decided to stay and live in the Netherlands. I completely fell in love with the country, the work environment, and the life I started building here.
The biggest benefit is that the collaboration didn’t end with the exchange. My host and his team have become my clients, so the relationship continues on a professional level, which is the best outcome I could have hoped for.
Beyond that, I finally saw how a company operates abroad, which was exactly what I was missing. Experiencing a different business culture and a startup working across multiple markets gave me a perspective I couldn’t have gained in Italy. I also developed new skills in areas like brand strategy, automation, and CRM, and I learned to work faster in an environment with fewer approval layers.
On top of that, I made valuable contacts outside the company by attending networking events across the Netherlands. Those connections, together with the decision to stay and live here, opened doors I didn’t even know existed when I started.
I came for an exchange and stayed for a life. The best professional and personal decision I’ve ever made.