Arduino Day, Coronavirus, and You…

As you know, one of the companies that has been VERY close to my heart in recent years (dating all the way back to my Atmel days) is Arduino. 

Founded in Italy by a group of amazing, visionary entrepreneurs, Arduino changed the world. The open-source hardware and software platform is used all over the globe by people like you and me, and it has been a true enabler throughout the education space, business environments, and most certainly the startup world. 

You want some numbers?

Okay, well approximately every second, someone is downloading an Arduino IDE (Integrated Development Environment). Arduino has more than 30 million active users visit the website per year and countless companies were founded on Arduino. Last but not least, lots of students spanning across six continents are using Arduino in their STE(A)M education programs.

A few years ago, I spoke to Fabio Violante and Massimo Banzi (CEO of Arduino and one of the founders, respectively). They asked for support on the marketing and business development side. I was honored and very excited and immediately said ‘yes.' They are awesome people.

This morning, I was on another call with the team. It gave me mixed feelings. I went from being sad to being entirely optimistic and incredibly grateful.

Both Turin and Milan are in the current epicenter of the COVID-19 and the team is all on lockdown, trying to stay safe and get their work done simultaneously; like us all. Listening to them, it struck me again that this is an incredible team. Italy was already close to my heart, but working with Arduino strengthened my love for the company and its people. Yes, there is sometimes a ‘bit’ of emotion in the conversations, but you have to love their passion!

Arduino taught me love for customers like I have never seen before. They taught me that being part of a family REALLY means you are part of a family, and I have to tell you that the Arduino employees are some of the smartest people I ever worked with in my life! I guess there are worse things in life than to be part of an Italian family and I am very grateful to be able to say I got to know all these great people. The spirit in the call was amazing; the team is willing to fight for one another, and their energy was truly unbelievable. It strengthened my belief that things are going to be alight...they really will! They helped me feel optimistic and it made me feel grateful.

So, let’s move onto the task at hand; Arduino Day 2020. 

This weekend Arduino will celebrate its 15th birthday with an annual 24-hour celebration — organized by the community for the community — that brings Arduino people and projects together. Understandably, Arduino Day 2020 will take place virtually this Saturday as planned, and the official event will be streamed throughout the day.

Now, Arduino loves its community and their safety is their first priority, which is why these events are now all happening online. I kindly ask you to tune into the livestream. Do it with your children if you can; everyone needs to be connected with this amazing brand and its people.

In closing, Arduino is offering free shipping on their products for Arduino Day in Europe, and I hope you will get inspired to do great things with Arduino. They truly deserve it!

We will see you all online!