My Second Giro di Boa - The Choice That Changed Everything

Vestingnotes Newsletter - 16.09.2025

Sep 16, 2025

I want to dedicate today’s chapter to a very special day: the day I decided to begin my journey with nestermind.

Have you ever had a moment that changed everything?

In Italian, we have an expression: giri di boa. It describes those turning points that mark a clear before and after - the moments when you realize nothing will ever be the same again.

I’ve had two giri di boa.

The first came when, within the span of a week, I decided to leave my life as a professional athlete and return to studying (here’s the link).

But today, I’d like to focus on the second one, which is definitely more relevant for my readers and for the purpose of Vestingnotes.

The second giro di boa has a name: nestermind - the moment when Lucas Pelloni decided to reach out to me.

For those who don’t know him, Lucas is the CEO and co-founder of nestermind. Like me, he grew up in Lugano, Switzerland. I was lucky to meet him through a mutual friend and my brother, with whom he shared his high school years.

During my university years, driven by my passion for the startup world, I reached out to him to share some ideas. He gave me valuable feedback, and even then, Lucas had already realized that I’d probably be a good fit for a startup.

Then, on December 12th, 2024, I received a message from him:

I apologize to those who don’t speak Italian, but the text simply said:

Hi Jona, how are you? What's new? Have you found a job?

It was a simple message, but one that would change a lot. Lucas knew I was about to finish my Master’s at the University of Zurich, that I had already gained experience in corporate and a bit of sales, and that I wouldn’t be continuing at the company where I was working. Good catch, Lucas! ✅

When I walked into nestermind’s “office”, I met the entire team at the time, the three co-founders: Lucas, Severin and Stephan. We talked about many things, but one moment I will always remember. Lucas said something that he later repeated on the VESS podcast by The Pink Crab 🦀 (Alessandro Soldati, and by the way, thanks for following Vestingnotes! 🚀).

Here’s what Lucas said:

Jona, I don’t know where we’ll go with nestermind, but I know it’s going to be awesome!

Severin followed with:

From my side, I can’t tell you exactly where we’ll go with nestermind either. What I can assure you is this: in the other companies we founded (like Axelra), not a single day went by when I came to the office without feeling motivated and happy to work - just like on the very first day.

Those two sentences were decisive. It wasn’t about the product, the market, or even the work itself - which was, of course, extremely stimulating. What made the difference was the team, the exponential learning curve, and the clarity with which they explained the culture they wanted to build.

And then the decision came, on December 20th, 2024.

Again, I apologize to non-Italian speakers. Here is the translation:

Lucas:
Good evening :) did you receive the email yesterday? Was the email correct?
Jonathan:
Good evening Lucas! 😊 Yes, I received the email!
Today I had a very intense day, I’m replying to your email just now!
I can already tell you that I’m happy we found common ground on all my requests, I’m excited to join the team and can’t wait to get started 🤘🙏🚀🎯
Lucas:
Hi Jona! This is wonderful news ❤️ I’m really glad you made this decision. We can’t wait to start! ❤️
Jonathan:
I’m also very happy about this opportunity, super excited! 😊
In the next few days we can organize a product overview and everything you’d like to show me! From the 27th I’ll be in Zurich 🤘
Last message does not need translation 😊

Completed with an Aperol at 5:55 p.m. that same day - exactly what any proud holder of an Italian passport would do. In Zurich, as I mentioned in my post, they’d probably opt for a Glühwein. But let’s go with it…

At that point, it was clear: my choice wasn’t about salary, title, or prestige. It was about the team and the joy of waking up every morning excited about what I was doing.

People often talk about work-life balance, and I value that too. But I also believe that putting in extra hours feels completely different when it’s for something you love, instead of just filling your CV while waiting for the next move.

A simple example: a few nights ago at 7:30 p.m. I went for a run, then came back and worked some more. Was I asked to? No. Did I want to? Absolutely.

Because when you do something you love, everything feels different, lighter.

Here’s a picture from my run ✌🏼

If you were expecting crazy edited, stunning visuals - sorry, not there yet. Maybe one day, but not now (forgive me) 😁. For now, let’s get back to the story.

Sure, jumping into nestermind wasn’t easy. And that’s exactly why I want to talk about it.

Whether you’re wrapping up your studies, in the early days of your career, or already halfway through it, you often face tough calls. An opportunity comes up and you’re not sure if it’s worth taking.

That’s exactly what happened to me after I made my final decision. I was contacted by a large bank. An interview, a potential career path.

Oh my, now what? What should I do?

For me, the answer turned out to be simple: I already knew why I had said yes to nestermind. It wasn’t about money, it wasn’t about the brand, it wasn’t about external expectations. It was about the team, the pace, the chance to learn directly from the founders and to grow in an environment where I could make an impact every single day.

So even though that might have been a valuable experience, I knew I wouldn’t be sitting at a desk working on a pitch deck for investors just seven days later - let alone talking to them directly.

In a startup, yes. In a large company, hardly at that speed. And that’s exactly what I wanted at that point in my life: to learn fast, and to learn directly from the founders.

I thought the topic was closed… until the next day, when another email landed in my inbox.

And my answer was not different from the previous one.

Jona - Who the F**K cares about a fancy application and a maybe-opportunity

Exactly, who cares? No one. The point isn’t the application itself, but what it taught me about choosing the right path for me.

I’m not sharing this to say “I could have worked at a big bank” or to show off a fancy application. I’m sharing it because many of us face the same crossroads. An opportunity shows up that looks like the obvious choice: salary, brand, CV boost. And yet, deep down, you know it may not be what you really want.

For me, saying yes to nestermind was the right decision. For someone else, the right choice might have been the other way around. And that’s exactly the point: the question we need to ask ourselves is the same - am I choosing this path because it’s truly mine, or just because it looks like the obvious one?

That’s what the first hire experience is about. No manual, no fixed processes, just writing the first pages of a story together. From the outside it may look risky - even reckless. From the inside, it’s priceless.

And that’s the real “giro di boa”: not simply choosing the path that looks polished, but the one that makes sense for you. For me, it started with a simple message. For others, it might be something completely different.

So no, today isn’t about KPIs, VCs/Angels rounds or vesting periods - those will come later. Today is about the psychology of a choice like this, and about those turning points.

These are my “giri di boa”. Now I’d love to hear about yours. What were the turning points that shaped your journey? Share your experience in the comments 😊

Vestingnotes

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?