Italian Entrepreneur Alessandro Picchianti on What European Founders Misunderstand About Dubai
The Mayor Digital co-founder moved to the UAE in November 2024. After operating from Dubai, the parts of the city he values most have little to do with its most visible image.
When Alessandro Picchianti moved to Dubai on 10 November 2024, he was not starting his professional life from scratch.
The Italian entrepreneur already had several years of experience across performance marketing, e-commerce and business building, alongside Saloning and Mayor Digital, the agency he had co-founded earlier that year.
What changed after the move was his understanding of the environment around those businesses.
From Europe, Dubai is difficult to separate from its most visible image: luxury, property, tax conversations, lifestyle content and a steady stream of entrepreneurs announcing their relocation.
After operating from the UAE, Picchianti became more interested in a different side of the city: its speed, international exposure, proximity to business relationships, competition and the importance of establishing credibility quickly.
The view from Europe
The version of Dubai that travels most easily is also the easiest to photograph.
Skyscrapers, cars, property developments and lifestyle content dominate much of the conversation around the city.
Picchianti does not dismiss those elements. They are part of Dubai.
But in his experience, they explain relatively little about what it actually feels like to operate a business from the city.
The aspects that began to matter more were less visible: the pace of conversations, the variety of nationalities and markets involved in everyday business, what clients expect from companies and how quickly opportunities can develop.
International by default
One of the strongest changes for Picchianti was how normal international business began to feel.
A person living in Dubai may come from one country, operate a company in another and work with customers across several regions.
That concentration changes the way business is approached.
“Living here made me think about markets in the plural much earlier,” Picchianti says.
Since relocating, he has worked with UAE businesses, international companies and entrepreneurs from different countries.
That exposure made questions around localisation, positioning and communication across markets more relevant much earlier in the decision-making process.
For Picchianti, the difference is not that Europe lacks international businesses. It is the concentration of cross-border activity in one place.
Speed raises expectations
Dubai can feel fast.
In Picchianti’s experience, introductions, meetings and commercial conversations can sometimes move quickly.
That does not make business easy, nor does it guarantee that a conversation turns into a deal.
What it changes is the visibility of slow execution.
Delayed responses, proposals that take too long or decisions that remain unresolved become more noticeable in an environment where other businesses are prepared to move quickly.
Since relocating, Picchianti says he has become more demanding about responsiveness, communication and execution within his own work.
Proximity over networking
Dubai is frequently associated with networking events, but Picchianti sees the more useful part of the city differently.
For him, the value comes from proximity and repeated interaction.
Introductions can become second conversations. People from different industries and countries operate within the same relatively concentrated business environment. Relationships have the opportunity to develop through repeated contact and eventually through actual work.
A large contact list alone carries little value.
Picchianti places more weight on relationships built through trust, familiarity with each other’s work and useful introductions.
“Living here made me value proximity more than networking itself,” he says.
Access and credibility
Another distinction became increasingly important after the move.
Access can sometimes happen quickly.
Introductions can put founders and decision-makers into the same conversation sooner than expected.
Trust takes longer.
In a market where many people describe themselves as founders, consultants, investors or experts, Picchianti became more interested in what sits behind those titles: track record, execution, references and the work that has actually been delivered.
The same standard applies to him.
“You can get into a conversation quickly. Credibility still has to be earned,” he says.
For Picchianti, access creates an opportunity to start a relationship. Substance determines whether there is a reason for it to continue.
Competition raises the standard
The part of the Dubai market in which Picchianti operates gives clients a wide range of alternatives.
That puts greater emphasis on responsiveness, presentation, communication and consistency alongside the actual work being delivered.
Picchianti is careful not to turn this into a broad comparison between Dubai and Europe.
His observation is more personal: operating in a competitive international environment raised his own expectations.
That has affected how he thinks about proposals, client communication, digital execution and the overall experience a company creates around its service.
Building Mayor Digital from Dubai
Today, Picchianti is Co-Founder of Mayor Digital, a Dubai-based agency working across digital strategy, performance marketing and communication.
His role focuses primarily on digital strategy, performance, client relationships, commercial conversations and the agency’s digital direction.
Co-Founder Barbara Francini focuses more on PR, events and offline communication.
Picchianti is also Co-Founder of Saloning and previously co-owned and operated e-commerce businesses including Telecard and Ferrucci.
That experience on the ownership side influenced the way he approaches marketing.
Campaign performance matters, but he increasingly looks at acquisition in the context of the wider business: sales, operations, customer experience and the economics behind growth.
An address and an international business
For Picchianti, having a company or address in Dubai should not be confused with having an international business.
A location can provide access to a more international environment.
Operating successfully across markets still requires companies to understand different customers, adapt communication and positioning, build relationships across cultures and deliver consistently.
“A Dubai address gives you a location. Building an international business requires much more,” he says.
Dubai can create exposure to those conditions.
The company still has to develop the ability to operate within them.
A different way to read Dubai
Almost two years after the move, Picchianti is less interested in the debate over whether Dubai is overrated or underrated.
He sees it primarily as an operating environment.
It combines international exposure, speed, competition, ambition and opportunity in an unusually concentrated setting.
Those conditions do not replace strong business fundamentals.
They put them under different pressure.
“Dubai made the environment around my business faster, wider and more demanding,” Picchianti says.
For him, that has been one of the most valuable consequences of the move.
The city provides the environment.
What an entrepreneur builds inside it remains their responsibility.
Profile bio
Alessandro Picchianti is an Italian entrepreneur and agency founder based in Dubai. He is Co-Founder of Mayor Digital and Saloning, with a background in performance marketing, e-commerce, digital strategy and business growth.
Suggested pull quotes
“Living here made me think about markets in the plural much earlier.”
“You can get into a conversation quickly. Credibility still has to be earned.”
“Dubai made the environment around my business faster, wider and more demanding.”