Building partnerships where technology meets territory.
Last Update: December 2025
Twenty-five years across telecommunications, mobile apps, location-based services, IoT, data infrastructure, and environmental intelligence. Several markets. One consistent observation: the partnerships that create lasting value operate on fundamentally different principles than those that extract it.
This site is where I develop and share those ideas.
The Work
I write and speak about how partnerships should work — particularly where technology transformation meets data privacy and sovereignty, territorial development, climate adaptation, and environmental intelligence.
Three principles form the backbone of this thinking:
Partnerships Over Transactions
Why mutual value creation beats zero-sum extraction. Grounded in relational contract theory, game theory research, and two decades of building partnerships that survived because both sides won.
Why presence beats distance. The difference between advisors who parachute in with recommendations and partners who build capability that persists. When action is needed, don’t hide.
Why shared challenge accelerates trust. The neuroscience and practical methodology for building relationships through authentic experience rather than conference-room performance.
These aren’t abstract frameworks. They emerge from direct experience: founding environmental intelligence infrastructure in the Dolomites and Valtellina, leading product strategy for personal data mobility platforms, building global teams across continents at Vodafone, and integrating outdoor leadership into commercial relationship-building.
Why This Matters Now
We’re at an inflection point. Climate adaptation demands new infrastructure. Digital transformation reshapes every sector. Cross-border collaboration grows more critical and more complex.
Yet most partnerships still operate on extraction logic: maximise your share, minimise your commitment, treat relationships as transactions to be optimised.
This doesn’t work. The research is clear. The experience confirms it. The partnerships that create real value — that survive adversity, that compound over time — operate on different principles entirely.
I’m building a body of work that articulates those principles and helps others apply them.
Current Focus
FabCampaigns – Managing Director and Partner
Fractional partnership leadership for ventures navigating technology transformation. Embedded with the teams, not advising from outside. Fewer partners, deeper work.
Building partnership ecosystems and navigating territorial stakeholders across Europe, Africa and beyond.
Smart Mountains – CEO & Co-Founder
Environmental intelligence infrastructure for mountain territories. Precision monitoring, IoT sensor networks, satellite data integration, predictive analytics. Opening €2M seeding phase April 2026.
This isn’t a case study; it’s where the principles get tested against reality, positioning as an infrastructure company rather than a technology vendor.
Territorial Opportunity
Currently evaluating board-level and advisory positions across UK and Italy. Among several attractive propositions, one stands apart: the possibility of returning to the Dolomites and Veneto region — the territory of my origins — to contribute to business ecosystem transformation at scale. The decision framework extends beyond compensation to encompass legacy, territorial impact, and the alignment between professional contribution and personal purpose.
The Ideas
Weekly reflections exploring the intersection of outdoor experience, partnership methodology, and technology ethics. Where the thinking develops in public.
Long-form essays articulating the framework: why partnerships beat transactions, why embedding beats advising, why adventure beats comfort. Research-grounded, experience-tested.
Digital Rights & Ethical Technology
Active voice for privacy-first platforms and ethical digital infrastructure. The conviction that technology leadership carries responsibility beyond commercial outcomes. Writing on platform accountability, personal data rights, and the societal implications of technology choices.
Speaking
Available for keynotes, panels, and workshops on:
Partnership Architecture — Building ecosystems that create mutual value
Embedded Leadership — The fractional model and why presence beats distance
Adventure-Based Relationship Building — The methodology and neuroscience of trust formation through shared challenge
Environmental Intelligence — Technology infrastructure for climate adaptation
Digital Rights & Ethical Technology — Platform accountability and privacy-first infrastructure
Cross-Border Operations — Navigating multi-territory partnerships with cultural fluency
Format flexibility: Conference keynotes, executive workshops, podcast conversations, university lectures.
The Path Here
The ideas in this work didn’t emerge from theory. They emerged from operating across the complete spectrum of organisational complexity. Some examples:
Venture Creation — Smart Mountains
Founded environmental intelligence infrastructure company from blank page through incorporation, partnership ecosystem development, and seeding preparation. The existential intensity of venture founding: every decision matters, resources are constrained, the founder is the last line of accountability.
Scale-Up Leadership — Digi.me
Chief Product Officer during the critical growth phase for a personal data mobility platform. Built strategic relationships with FTSE 100 companies and global platforms. Direct engagement with FTSE senior leadership on data sharing frameworks during GDPR implementation.
Global Enterprise — Vodafone
Sixteen years navigating one of the world’s largest telecommunications organisations. Built and led cross-functional teams of 50+ spanning continents. Complete P&L responsibility. M&A due diligence. The complexity of matrix structures, influencing without direct authority, delivering results through partnership.
Cross-Border Operations
UK headquarters since 2006. Native Italian fluency enabling direct negotiation in the territory of origin. Israel operations for a neurotechnology venture. European Union regulatory navigation. South Africa partnership corridor development.
This trajectory delivers what makes the thinking credible: technical depth to evaluate architecture decisions, commercial acumen to structure partnerships, leadership experience to operate at board level, and multi-territory fluency to navigate cultural complexity.
Credentials
Education: MSc Economics, Bocconi University — Major in Innovation, Convergence & Statistics
Outdoor Leadership: Mountain Leader (Mountain Training UK); MTB Guide (British Cycling); Duke of Edinburgh Award Leader & Assessor
Wine: WSET Certified — Valtellina & Alpine Wine Specialist
Languages: English (Native professional proficiency); Italian (Native fluency)
The Integration
The outdoor practice isn’t separate from the intellectual work. It’s where the principles get tested.
Relationships forged during multi-day expeditions — ski touring, climbing, mountain biking — create bonds of trust that accelerate commercial partnerships in ways conference room relationships cannot. This is deliberate methodology, not lifestyle marketing.
Currently: Rock climbing (targeting 7a on-sight), ski touring, mountain biking. Coaching three daughters in climbing and ski touring. Leading group expeditions through UK National Parks and Alpine terrain.
The mountain teaches that quality of relationship determines quality of outcome. The same principle applies to every partnership worth building.
Connect
Web: fabrizio.deliberali.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/fabdeliberali
Advisory Practice: fabcampaigns.com
Weekly Writing: Fab’s Friday Field Notes
Speaking Inquiries: contact@deliberali.com