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Featured Guest:
Daniele DeMarch Co-Founder, ELSEWAVE Published Date: May 22, 2026 In this episode of Wisdom for Wannabes, Jackie Morreale sits down with Daniele DeMarch, whose journey spans Milan fashion houses, global technology leadership, and the future of experiential luxury. As the ELSEWAVE co-founder, Daniele explores how scouting supermodels in the 90s unexpectedly prepared him to scout breakthrough technologies in AI, aerospace, hospitality, and immersive experiences. From Formula 1 simulators to floating pickleball courts, Daniele shares insights on entrepreneurship, innovation, relationships, and why the future of luxury is all about unforgettable experiences. Listen to/watch the full podcast recording, or read the transcript below: |
Full Interview with Daniele DeMarch:
"This comes from skiing. When we have the right trajectory, that's when you go fast, you go clean. Every single of us has one inside, and we don't have to be afraid to follow that. That's why we started ELSEWAVE. It was the right track."
- Daniele DeMarch (Wisdom for Wannabes episode 58, 15:20)
Great quotes from the interview:
(More great quotes throughout the transcript in blue below.)
- "Fashion taught me beauty. Tech gives me the future.”
- “We find technology that nobody’s paying attention to, but they’re going to change the future.”
- “Experience is going to be the new luxury.”
- “I was always the backstage guy.”
- “There are people sitting on the sofa watching TV hoping to become someone, and people who go after it.”
- “I cannot see something new and not think about how it can scale.”
- “Resiliency is probably my best thing.”
- “You have to live your life as if your dreams are already happening — then make them real.”
- “The problem isn’t the technology — it’s the market.”
- “We have the vision, and he knows how to speak to the machine."
(More great quotes throughout the transcript in blue below.)
Daniele DeMarch, ELSEWAVE
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Key Takeaways:
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Formula 1 Simulator Experience in partnership with ITRS
Interview Transcript:
Jackie Morreale (00:00)
Hello and welcome to Wisdom for Wannabes, the podcast that seeks to find wise words in business, beauty, and betterment. I'm the host, Jackie Morreale. Today's guest is someone who truly lives in the intersection of innovation, luxury, and experience.
After spending over 15 years in the fashion world in Milan, Italy, Daniele DeMarch pivoted into technology, leading the US division of a Canon group company called Iris before taking the leap into is now the co-founder of ELSEWAVE, a boutique innovation company based right here in South Florida that helps bring cutting-edge technologies, from aerospace to biotech, to life.
But what really caught my attention was the experience side of the business. I first met Daniele at the Palm Beach Marathon Expo back in December, where I attempted his Formula 1 Simulator. Let's just say I have a newfound respect for race car drivers after crashing and burning in about 30 seconds.
Then again, he was there at the Sea Trade Cruise Global Show in Miami in April, where his team showcased something that I didn't even know was possible, which was a floating pickleball. Today, we're diving into innovation, risk-taking, and what it really takes to build something new.
Daniele DeMarch, thank you so much for being here. Welcome to Wisdom for Wannabes podcast!
Daniele DeMarch (01:27)
Thank you so much, Jackie. Thank you for this great opportunity.
Jackie Morreale (01:31)
For those of us meeting you for the first time, in your own words, can you tell us your full name, where you're from, and a little bit about what you do?
Daniele DeMarch (01:39)
Absolutely. My name is Daniele DeMarch. Everyone calls me 'Daniel Di Marche' here, in the American way. I'm originally from Italy, from Milano, a great city, and I miss it sometimes. Now, I live in the wonderful Palm Beach County, which is a great experience. I'm the co-founder of ELSEWAVE. We’re a boutique innovation house. We are helping bridge the division, capital, and execution. These are the three main things we do for technologies.
Jackie Morreale (02:03)
How many years have you been doing this now with ELSEWAVE?
Daniele DeMarch (02:06)
ELSEWAVE is a pretty young project. We're talking about probably one and a half years as a concept, but we definitely have 25 years of experience, more or less, around the world.
My first chapter was in fashion and luxury in Milan. I was 22, 23 years old, in my university years. It was the 90s, and a lot was going on with fashion. It was the time of the supermodel. I had the great opportunity to meet John Casablancas, the head of Elite Models. He was speaking five languages, I was speaking five too, and we met and I said, 'I want to be like you one day.' He said, 'Okay, let's do it.' Over the next few days, he conducted an interview, and he said, 'From now on, you're working for us, for Elite.' I was like, 'Alright!'
That's best job in the world, at 22.
That's how it started.
Then ELSEWAVE is just the evolution of those experiences.
Fashion gave me the sense of a brand, emotion. Technology gave me the future. I've always been involved in both sides.
Business development is what I love. It's really what I feel inside. I cannot see something new and not think about how this can be scaled.
It's always in search of something, the search for sunrise. I'm searching for future technology. That's how I am, and how ELSEWAVE has been.
The reason it's called ELSEWAVE is that I love waves. I love the seaside. I love to watch waves. It always gives me a good feeling.
Sometimes you need to look outside the box. That's where we come in. Where nobody's looking or stopping, I stop, analyze, and think.
If this guy is here at this trade show with this project, it's because he believes it's useful, right? There is a reason why he's there.
That's what ELSEWAVE is. We find the future technology. That's what we do.
Jackie Morreale (03:43)
You talked about fashion, backstage in the runways of Milano with Elite Models. Now you're going around the world, picking up what the trends in the luxury experience market are and really riding this wave of ELSEWAVE.
Daniele DeMarch (03:48)
It’s really dynamic. Working for Canon had been a great experience. I was working there for another 15 years. These big corporations teach you a lot about managing teams, but you're always stuck. I'm always suffering with that. Every time you see something that can be helpful or can happen on the technology side, then you have to scale. Up to Japan!
We were always thinking about what could be next, but when it actually happened, it was after two years.
This is what I got from fashion. Fashion is super-fast. We have a problem, and I have to solve it now, immediately.
I started working for a big distribution company that is called Ingram Micro, one of the biggest in the world. They were giving me a task. I solved it in five minutes. They were saying, 'No, not now, we have a couple of days.'
But that was my mindset of the fashion business: to always look ahead, always try to find the next.
The designers were working with me, telling me, 'Next year, we need this type of model because this is what we're looking for.' Always seeking the next experience, the designers were great. There was no AI. Everything was real.
It was so fast, everything backstage.
When I was going home, it was like, 'Let me think what I'd seen in one hour.'
Everything was super-fast and there were no mistakes allowed. So, I learned a lot.
Back in the day, I had to deal with all the magazines, which was great. The sponsorships. It was a really great background for me. Everybody always wanted to be in front. To be the model, the actor.
For me, it was great to be backstage.
I was a backstage guy. I would love to create new innovations.
We were scouting people about 20,000 people a year. It's a big number only in Italy, right? It was huge. I had the chance to travel through Italy, to see all these minor contests, exactly like now.
I think this is really my thing: I was invited to model contests because it was a big thing in the 90s. Nobody wanted to go there. A contest in a small city in Sicily... 'I'm not going to go there.' For all these VIPs, if it's not super cool, I'm not going to go there. But I was going. I said, 'I've got to go there, don't worry.'
Never think that you're going to waste your time at these trade shows.
For the Sea Cruise Trade Show, I was super blown away by what we couldn’t find there.
It's surprising.
I went there for technology to try to solve a problem of the waste of the cruise, and I ended up with and a Formula 1 racing simulator, in partnership with ITRS.
(Continued below)
Hello and welcome to Wisdom for Wannabes, the podcast that seeks to find wise words in business, beauty, and betterment. I'm the host, Jackie Morreale. Today's guest is someone who truly lives in the intersection of innovation, luxury, and experience.
After spending over 15 years in the fashion world in Milan, Italy, Daniele DeMarch pivoted into technology, leading the US division of a Canon group company called Iris before taking the leap into is now the co-founder of ELSEWAVE, a boutique innovation company based right here in South Florida that helps bring cutting-edge technologies, from aerospace to biotech, to life.
But what really caught my attention was the experience side of the business. I first met Daniele at the Palm Beach Marathon Expo back in December, where I attempted his Formula 1 Simulator. Let's just say I have a newfound respect for race car drivers after crashing and burning in about 30 seconds.
Then again, he was there at the Sea Trade Cruise Global Show in Miami in April, where his team showcased something that I didn't even know was possible, which was a floating pickleball. Today, we're diving into innovation, risk-taking, and what it really takes to build something new.
Daniele DeMarch, thank you so much for being here. Welcome to Wisdom for Wannabes podcast!
Daniele DeMarch (01:27)
Thank you so much, Jackie. Thank you for this great opportunity.
Jackie Morreale (01:31)
For those of us meeting you for the first time, in your own words, can you tell us your full name, where you're from, and a little bit about what you do?
Daniele DeMarch (01:39)
Absolutely. My name is Daniele DeMarch. Everyone calls me 'Daniel Di Marche' here, in the American way. I'm originally from Italy, from Milano, a great city, and I miss it sometimes. Now, I live in the wonderful Palm Beach County, which is a great experience. I'm the co-founder of ELSEWAVE. We’re a boutique innovation house. We are helping bridge the division, capital, and execution. These are the three main things we do for technologies.
Jackie Morreale (02:03)
How many years have you been doing this now with ELSEWAVE?
Daniele DeMarch (02:06)
ELSEWAVE is a pretty young project. We're talking about probably one and a half years as a concept, but we definitely have 25 years of experience, more or less, around the world.
My first chapter was in fashion and luxury in Milan. I was 22, 23 years old, in my university years. It was the 90s, and a lot was going on with fashion. It was the time of the supermodel. I had the great opportunity to meet John Casablancas, the head of Elite Models. He was speaking five languages, I was speaking five too, and we met and I said, 'I want to be like you one day.' He said, 'Okay, let's do it.' Over the next few days, he conducted an interview, and he said, 'From now on, you're working for us, for Elite.' I was like, 'Alright!'
That's best job in the world, at 22.
That's how it started.
Then ELSEWAVE is just the evolution of those experiences.
Fashion gave me the sense of a brand, emotion. Technology gave me the future. I've always been involved in both sides.
Business development is what I love. It's really what I feel inside. I cannot see something new and not think about how this can be scaled.
It's always in search of something, the search for sunrise. I'm searching for future technology. That's how I am, and how ELSEWAVE has been.
The reason it's called ELSEWAVE is that I love waves. I love the seaside. I love to watch waves. It always gives me a good feeling.
Sometimes you need to look outside the box. That's where we come in. Where nobody's looking or stopping, I stop, analyze, and think.
If this guy is here at this trade show with this project, it's because he believes it's useful, right? There is a reason why he's there.
That's what ELSEWAVE is. We find the future technology. That's what we do.
Jackie Morreale (03:43)
You talked about fashion, backstage in the runways of Milano with Elite Models. Now you're going around the world, picking up what the trends in the luxury experience market are and really riding this wave of ELSEWAVE.
Daniele DeMarch (03:48)
It’s really dynamic. Working for Canon had been a great experience. I was working there for another 15 years. These big corporations teach you a lot about managing teams, but you're always stuck. I'm always suffering with that. Every time you see something that can be helpful or can happen on the technology side, then you have to scale. Up to Japan!
We were always thinking about what could be next, but when it actually happened, it was after two years.
This is what I got from fashion. Fashion is super-fast. We have a problem, and I have to solve it now, immediately.
I started working for a big distribution company that is called Ingram Micro, one of the biggest in the world. They were giving me a task. I solved it in five minutes. They were saying, 'No, not now, we have a couple of days.'
But that was my mindset of the fashion business: to always look ahead, always try to find the next.
The designers were working with me, telling me, 'Next year, we need this type of model because this is what we're looking for.' Always seeking the next experience, the designers were great. There was no AI. Everything was real.
It was so fast, everything backstage.
When I was going home, it was like, 'Let me think what I'd seen in one hour.'
Everything was super-fast and there were no mistakes allowed. So, I learned a lot.
Back in the day, I had to deal with all the magazines, which was great. The sponsorships. It was a really great background for me. Everybody always wanted to be in front. To be the model, the actor.
For me, it was great to be backstage.
I was a backstage guy. I would love to create new innovations.
We were scouting people about 20,000 people a year. It's a big number only in Italy, right? It was huge. I had the chance to travel through Italy, to see all these minor contests, exactly like now.
I think this is really my thing: I was invited to model contests because it was a big thing in the 90s. Nobody wanted to go there. A contest in a small city in Sicily... 'I'm not going to go there.' For all these VIPs, if it's not super cool, I'm not going to go there. But I was going. I said, 'I've got to go there, don't worry.'
Never think that you're going to waste your time at these trade shows.
For the Sea Cruise Trade Show, I was super blown away by what we couldn’t find there.
It's surprising.
I went there for technology to try to solve a problem of the waste of the cruise, and I ended up with and a Formula 1 racing simulator, in partnership with ITRS.
(Continued below)
Host Jackie Morreale gives the F1 Racing Simulator a go in West Palm Beach, FL at the Palm Beaches Marathon Expo.
Jackie Morreale (06:08)
It sounds like you're just a natural networker, and you're the glue of whatever situation that you're in.
Daniele DeMarch (06:14)
I think it's my background, that's where it comes from. But I think it comes also from my childhood experience.
My dad was an IBM engineer. When I was four years old, we started moving from Italy to US every three years. I went to Minnesota was four years old up seven. Then we came back to Italy. Then to Minnesota when I was a teenager for another project.
Every two years, I had to change friends and change environments.
So, resiliency is probably my best thing.
Everybody was surprised when I moved from fashion to technology.
Jackie Morreale (06:45)
Isn't that crazy, though, that you were able to scout supermodels and now you're scouting technology? It's different, but it's the same.
Daniele DeMarch (06:51)
It's the same. It's the same view.
Professionalism and view, it doesn't change much in the end. Models were a little bit more complicated. The right supermodel for us in Elite Models was: You have to have an entrepreneur mindset when you're 17 years old.
Jackie Morreale (07:07)
You're a brand.
Daniele DeMarch (07:07)
You're a brand, and you're taking on a lot of responsibility on your end. The agency is investing a lot of money in you. You have to be ready at 16 or 17 years old to manage your career.
This is why all these big top models of the 90s are still big names. They're all entrepreneurs. They build up something in their career.
Now they're 50, they still look great, and they all invested the super money they earned back in the day.
Without the mindset, it will not work.
Out of 20,000 people, we were probably picking three every year who would at least have a career in modeling.
Jackie Morreale (07:39)
Three. Wow! So you really are looking for the diamond.
Daniele DeMarch (07:43)
It was really complicated. You cannot miss it. When you're sending the model to the designer or to the big-name photographer, if she was not good, she or he would pick up the phone and scream at me. It was not a very gentle business.
Jackie Morreale (07:57)
The Italian version of The Devil Wears Prada for 15 years of your life?
Daniele DeMarch (08:00)
No, but The Devil Wears Prada is great.
I think even better than that, I'm crazy about it because I had a wonderful experience of six months in Paris, is Emily in Paris.
Emily in Paris, to me, is the best show ever. To me, it's weird to know it's an American series because they capture exactly the personality of the French people, for example, of the agency.
Jackie Morreale (08:09)
Yes, it’s so great.
Daniele DeMarch (08:23)
They got the Italian ones. They got the American, who's always happy.
I spent six months in Paris; I was 22.
I arrived there, super enthusiastic.
I was like Emily in Paris: The dream job in the dream city.
We need to go to dinner tonight. Same restaurant means Michelin star restaurant, with 20 people. The best people of Paris. Always complaining.
Everybody was always complaining about everything.
(Continued below)
Some of Daniele's Favorite things from the conversation:
The Devil Wears Prada film
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Emily in Paris series on Netflix
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Elite Model Management
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(Continued)
Jackie Morreale (08:38)
Of course. Gabriel’s restaurant!
Daniele DeMarch (08:42)
Still nowadays, sometimes my business partner, and he has patience, will sometimes say, 'Hey, your fashion attitude is coming out, pull it back.’
Everything has to be perfect, it has to be done now.
He's like, 'This is tech.'
Jackie Morreale (08:54)
I have to ask you, what did you think of Emily in Rome (Season 5)?
Daniele DeMarch (08:58)
They got it, they got it perfectly. I was a little bit concerned, again, about the French and Italian differences. I love it. It's a really great show. I'm curious to see the new episodes.
Jackie Morreale (09:06)
Me too. I'm counting the days.
I know you said that your family members have worked in tech, right? I think you said your dad was at IBM, your brother was at Microsoft.
Daniele DeMarch (09:11)
Yes, my dad at IBM, and my brother was a Microsoft director. He's 15 years older than me. So, for them, they never understood why they were paying me so much money for doing what? My dad was like, ‘I'm happy because you can take care of yourself, but I don't get it.’
They paid me to go around and scout, and do marketing for brands… they were not clear.
My brother was taking fun side of it, was inviting all these Microsoft people, 'Oh, there is a party with my brother’s agency, let's go.'
I understand that for them it was difficult.
My dad, when I wanted the keyboard, was like, 'Let's make a business plan. I need to understand how many hours you're going to spend, how much is left.'
When you're a kid, you have math homework to do. Everybody goes to their dad, and they take 10 minutes, and they go. No, my dad start telling me the story of binary system, why the numbers are, everything for him has to have a reason.
I remember even when I was into music, so I was starting to have keyboards and synthesizers. If something was wrong, he had to open it, he had to understand how it was working, every single piece.
It's funny because in the end, my brother ended up in the music business, and I went to tech, so we swapped. I think that's just a great background, and that's what allowed me to go into tech.
The fashion mindset means problem-solving, and a lot of relationships with people.
I see a lot of people in the tech business really having problems relating to people.
I think this is what we bring with ELSEWAVE because it's closing that gap.
My business partner is the tech one of us. He's the real scout of the technology. We analyze it. I say, 'This is a grade A technology, but it doesn't have a market. We can try to make it a market.' We're pretty compatible on that side.
Jackie Morreale (10:53)
You have this multi-dimensional team. I love that your partner brings in the technology analysis part of it, and you're bringing in the relationships, the business development part of it. This mindset that you had built from all these years behind the scenes, super fast-paced, super luxury, high-end relationship building behind the scenes in fashion, and take it into technology. Then, you moved to Palm Beach County to lead this US division of your company. What does this new chapter teach you about leadership tech?
Daniele DeMarch (11:17)
Was great. Before moving to the US, I was managing Scandinavia, Spain, Greece, and Italy, of course. I've always been very respectful culturally.
When you go to a new country, you have to respect their culture. You have to learn even the way they do business. It's very different.
The way US people do business is completely different than European companies.
We were a Belgian-German company. All my leadership were from Germany, great people in Europe, great mindset, but it doesn't work in the US. We have completely different needs.
Just to give you an example, mandatory for the European people is having 20 days in the summer for holidays. In US, nobody cares about it, but if you want to work from home two days a week, you have to be flexible, which is in Europe is, 'working from home means you're lazy.'
These are the things you need to understand culturally to make a team and to become a good leader.
It’s really just a different lifestyle. Doesn't matter about the vacation.
Jackie Morreale (12:17)
Hey, are you hiring? It sounds like you're a pretty good leader and a pretty good boss.
Daniele DeMarch (12:21)
Sometimes, probably too good.
Jackie Morreale (12:22)
Before we get too deep into the opportunities at ELSEWAVE, quick-fire questions. Daniele DeMarch: Favorite food? You're Italian, so I know this is not simple.
Daniele DeMarch (12:29)
What should I say? Italian? I would say Italian, but in Italy, which is different than Italian in the US. In the US, the one I cook at home, that's my favorite food. Probably pasta, in the way I do it. I'm a very big seafood fan.
Jackie Morreale (12:37)
At Nonna's house. Yes.
Daniele DeMarch (12:46)
I like Italian food because they have the most variety of foods. We have really good menus that can go on forever. Every region is different. The Milano kitchen is different from the Rome and the Sicily ones.
When you guys see here around, most of the time it's Sicilian or Southern Italian food.
Jackie Morreale (13:02)
But the Pesto is so good from the north!
Daniele DeMarch (13:04)
Pesto is from Genoa, that's good. You've been in Italy, so you know.
We have such a variety of different foods, and they are healthier. They always think we eat a lot. We don't eat a lot. When I see this portion of pasta here in US, I get crazy.
It's pasta for free in Italy.
We have pasta, and we have another meal, but it's a small portion compared to that.
Jackie Morreale (13:17)
This is tough. Milano or Miami?
Daniele DeMarch (13:24)
Milano definitely for the style, but the energy of Miami is unique. I think that's why we opened a new office in Brickell.
Jackie Morreale (13:32)
Fashion or tech?
Daniele DeMarch (13:33)
I would say both. Fashion taught me beauty. Tech gives me the future.
Jackie Morreale (13:34)
In a way, fashion gave you the future too, right, if you were always seasons ahead?
Daniele DeMarch (13:40)
Honestly, it did, too, but what I learned is the beauty. The beauty in fashion is a little bit gone. Now we try to impress.
I saw the Met Gala. Every time I see the Met Gala, I go crazy. For me, it's like, ‘What is that?’
Jackie Morreale (13:52)
So beautiful. Oh - you didn't like the fashions?
True, nobody can walk. Everyone has to be lifted up the stairs.
Daniele DeMarch (13:53)
I'm an old school guy from the 90s. It's always too much, there's nothing nice there.
Nothing is wearable. It's just shocking.
Just to make people talk about it, which is probably when I start moving out from fashion.
If I have to think about why I got tired of fashion, was around 2007, is when we get to that point. Fashion was becoming shocking.
From the 90s, I was really learning the beauty. The beauty of the photography, the beauty of the clothes, the time the designer was putting in to make all the details.
That's when I said, ‘I don't belong to this anymore.’
Jackie Morreale (14:32)
Biggest adrenaline rush: the racing simulator or closing a deal?
Daniele DeMarch (14:36)
I think when I closed the deal FOR the racing simulator.
For me, it's closing the deal. The racing simulator is absolutely unique and an adrenaline rush.
Jackie Morreale (14:39)
That's right. It's one and the same.
A luxury experience that everyone should experience?
Daniele DeMarch (14:49)
There are a lot. The best experience is a luxury experience that I enjoyed and learned here, which is having a family and friends on a yacht cruise. That's definitely the best that I would pick.
(Continued below)
Jackie Morreale (08:38)
Of course. Gabriel’s restaurant!
Daniele DeMarch (08:42)
Still nowadays, sometimes my business partner, and he has patience, will sometimes say, 'Hey, your fashion attitude is coming out, pull it back.’
Everything has to be perfect, it has to be done now.
He's like, 'This is tech.'
Jackie Morreale (08:54)
I have to ask you, what did you think of Emily in Rome (Season 5)?
Daniele DeMarch (08:58)
They got it, they got it perfectly. I was a little bit concerned, again, about the French and Italian differences. I love it. It's a really great show. I'm curious to see the new episodes.
Jackie Morreale (09:06)
Me too. I'm counting the days.
I know you said that your family members have worked in tech, right? I think you said your dad was at IBM, your brother was at Microsoft.
Daniele DeMarch (09:11)
Yes, my dad at IBM, and my brother was a Microsoft director. He's 15 years older than me. So, for them, they never understood why they were paying me so much money for doing what? My dad was like, ‘I'm happy because you can take care of yourself, but I don't get it.’
They paid me to go around and scout, and do marketing for brands… they were not clear.
My brother was taking fun side of it, was inviting all these Microsoft people, 'Oh, there is a party with my brother’s agency, let's go.'
I understand that for them it was difficult.
My dad, when I wanted the keyboard, was like, 'Let's make a business plan. I need to understand how many hours you're going to spend, how much is left.'
When you're a kid, you have math homework to do. Everybody goes to their dad, and they take 10 minutes, and they go. No, my dad start telling me the story of binary system, why the numbers are, everything for him has to have a reason.
I remember even when I was into music, so I was starting to have keyboards and synthesizers. If something was wrong, he had to open it, he had to understand how it was working, every single piece.
It's funny because in the end, my brother ended up in the music business, and I went to tech, so we swapped. I think that's just a great background, and that's what allowed me to go into tech.
The fashion mindset means problem-solving, and a lot of relationships with people.
I see a lot of people in the tech business really having problems relating to people.
I think this is what we bring with ELSEWAVE because it's closing that gap.
My business partner is the tech one of us. He's the real scout of the technology. We analyze it. I say, 'This is a grade A technology, but it doesn't have a market. We can try to make it a market.' We're pretty compatible on that side.
Jackie Morreale (10:53)
You have this multi-dimensional team. I love that your partner brings in the technology analysis part of it, and you're bringing in the relationships, the business development part of it. This mindset that you had built from all these years behind the scenes, super fast-paced, super luxury, high-end relationship building behind the scenes in fashion, and take it into technology. Then, you moved to Palm Beach County to lead this US division of your company. What does this new chapter teach you about leadership tech?
Daniele DeMarch (11:17)
Was great. Before moving to the US, I was managing Scandinavia, Spain, Greece, and Italy, of course. I've always been very respectful culturally.
When you go to a new country, you have to respect their culture. You have to learn even the way they do business. It's very different.
The way US people do business is completely different than European companies.
We were a Belgian-German company. All my leadership were from Germany, great people in Europe, great mindset, but it doesn't work in the US. We have completely different needs.
Just to give you an example, mandatory for the European people is having 20 days in the summer for holidays. In US, nobody cares about it, but if you want to work from home two days a week, you have to be flexible, which is in Europe is, 'working from home means you're lazy.'
These are the things you need to understand culturally to make a team and to become a good leader.
It’s really just a different lifestyle. Doesn't matter about the vacation.
Jackie Morreale (12:17)
Hey, are you hiring? It sounds like you're a pretty good leader and a pretty good boss.
Daniele DeMarch (12:21)
Sometimes, probably too good.
Jackie Morreale (12:22)
Before we get too deep into the opportunities at ELSEWAVE, quick-fire questions. Daniele DeMarch: Favorite food? You're Italian, so I know this is not simple.
Daniele DeMarch (12:29)
What should I say? Italian? I would say Italian, but in Italy, which is different than Italian in the US. In the US, the one I cook at home, that's my favorite food. Probably pasta, in the way I do it. I'm a very big seafood fan.
Jackie Morreale (12:37)
At Nonna's house. Yes.
Daniele DeMarch (12:46)
I like Italian food because they have the most variety of foods. We have really good menus that can go on forever. Every region is different. The Milano kitchen is different from the Rome and the Sicily ones.
When you guys see here around, most of the time it's Sicilian or Southern Italian food.
Jackie Morreale (13:02)
But the Pesto is so good from the north!
Daniele DeMarch (13:04)
Pesto is from Genoa, that's good. You've been in Italy, so you know.
We have such a variety of different foods, and they are healthier. They always think we eat a lot. We don't eat a lot. When I see this portion of pasta here in US, I get crazy.
It's pasta for free in Italy.
We have pasta, and we have another meal, but it's a small portion compared to that.
Jackie Morreale (13:17)
This is tough. Milano or Miami?
Daniele DeMarch (13:24)
Milano definitely for the style, but the energy of Miami is unique. I think that's why we opened a new office in Brickell.
Jackie Morreale (13:32)
Fashion or tech?
Daniele DeMarch (13:33)
I would say both. Fashion taught me beauty. Tech gives me the future.
Jackie Morreale (13:34)
In a way, fashion gave you the future too, right, if you were always seasons ahead?
Daniele DeMarch (13:40)
Honestly, it did, too, but what I learned is the beauty. The beauty in fashion is a little bit gone. Now we try to impress.
I saw the Met Gala. Every time I see the Met Gala, I go crazy. For me, it's like, ‘What is that?’
Jackie Morreale (13:52)
So beautiful. Oh - you didn't like the fashions?
True, nobody can walk. Everyone has to be lifted up the stairs.
Daniele DeMarch (13:53)
I'm an old school guy from the 90s. It's always too much, there's nothing nice there.
Nothing is wearable. It's just shocking.
Just to make people talk about it, which is probably when I start moving out from fashion.
If I have to think about why I got tired of fashion, was around 2007, is when we get to that point. Fashion was becoming shocking.
From the 90s, I was really learning the beauty. The beauty of the photography, the beauty of the clothes, the time the designer was putting in to make all the details.
That's when I said, ‘I don't belong to this anymore.’
Jackie Morreale (14:32)
Biggest adrenaline rush: the racing simulator or closing a deal?
Daniele DeMarch (14:36)
I think when I closed the deal FOR the racing simulator.
For me, it's closing the deal. The racing simulator is absolutely unique and an adrenaline rush.
Jackie Morreale (14:39)
That's right. It's one and the same.
A luxury experience that everyone should experience?
Daniele DeMarch (14:49)
There are a lot. The best experience is a luxury experience that I enjoyed and learned here, which is having a family and friends on a yacht cruise. That's definitely the best that I would pick.
(Continued below)
Formula 1 Simulator Experience in partnership with ITRS, shown in use
(Continued)
Jackie Morreale (14:59)
Favorite book? Could be an Italian.
Daniele DeMarch (15:00)
It definitely is a book written in Italian. It’s the one that changed my mind and made me jump to build ELSEWAVE. There's this big entrepreneur who is named Alessandro Benetton; from a famous Italian family, the Benetton’s - the stores, the Formula 1, and everything.
He wrote this book about himself mainly, which is La Traiettoria. La traiettoria means the trajectory.
You're a skier, and this comes from skiing.
When we got the right trajectory, that's when you go fast, you go clean.
This book basically tells you that every single of us has one inside, and we don't have to be scared to follow that.
I was closing this great position of being an executive of a multinational corporation.
But it was not my trajectory. I need to do something else.
That's when we started ELSEWAVE.
Thinking about ELSEWAVE, I said, 'Well, that's what I fit'. That was my trajectory. I got back on my right track.
That book really, really changed me.
Jackie Morreale (15:56)
Do you have a favorite quote for life?
Daniele DeMarch (15:58)
Always live your life as if all your dreams are coming true, and then just make them happen. That's the big difference. Don't try to chase your dreams. Make it as if your dreams are already here, and then make it real.
I always said, there are two different people. The people sitting on the sofa watching TV, hoping to become someone, and people who are not sitting on the sofa, and they try to reach their targets.
I was the one not on the sofa, still to this day.
Jackie Morreale (16:21)
Let's talk more about ELSEWAVE. You've called it a 'boutique innovation company.' What does that actually mean to you?
Daniele DeMarch (16:24)
Boutique means very selective. I think I learned this from fashion, too.
I'm the artisan in the back.
The one making his sandals by hand, and I can build five every day.
Producing 2,000 sandals a day, everybody's going to forget it. If you buy it, you're going to throw it away.
That's why we are a boutique innovation firm.
‘Boutique’ comes really from the fashion side. Something small, something that we pay super attention to.
Sometimes they come to us, but most of the time we are the ones picking the brand, to have a real close relationship with the owner of the company of the idea. We take out the ELSEWAVE shirt and we put their own one inside. I'm executive advisor for three or four companies, and I have an email of that company.
We are part of their company because it's the only way to understand them better and help them reach the target they have in mind.
Jackie Morreale (17:15)
Let's say you go to the cruise trade show. What are you looking for?
Daniele DeMarch (17:19)
We pay attention to everything. Sometimes it drains a lot of energy.
We stop by every single booth – even the smallest.
Sometimes I laugh; I see these people at the booth, just a table, nothing on it, because everybody's around and they have big talk and big advertising, lights and music.
Most of the time, those simple tables are the people with the best technology. They are not marketing people. They are part of their technology.
We know that a couple of shows are gathering all these people.
Most of the time, they're not the people who are invited on the stage to make a speech.
If you are on stage and talk about your technology, it means you made it already. You don't need us.
We find technology that nobody's paying attention to, but they're going to change the future.
We found one in aerospace, for example, that is amazing. A super engineer developed an engine for the satellites, so they have a life because when the gas finishes, they die. We have 3,000 satellites in orbit at the moment. Most of them have a timeframe. They're going to die, and so it's a cost that goes in the dustbin.
This guy invented a system that auto generates. It's regenerating energy. The satellite can live forever and they can move it.
The problem in the market is that when they can't move the satellite anymore, they take it down and destroy it.
One guy, one company. Then it became five, now six companies, with insane technology. The technology comes from a study he did on Albert Einstein. Einstein was the one who came up first with this, and he applied it to this engine.
Jackie Morreale (18:43)
Using Einstein's formula to solve problems, and you're able to describe what it's doing. There's a level of understanding there that is pretty incredible that you have.
What separates an idea from being 'cool' versus one that's worth investing in?
Daniele DeMarch (18:57)
'Cool' is generating an interest, is generating a wow effect. Something that you say, 'I want to do it once, then I want to do it again.'
On Formula 1 simulator, when we set it up at a certain trade show, we had 600 people come try it one day.
Regularly, you have a 15-minute experience. The full experience is 15 minutes, and it's tough; you get out of that car, and you feel it.
But the five-minute experience is the one you're going to try; you get out, and you're like, 'I want to do it again.' They come back three times because they want more, 'I want to see if I can do better.'
For me, this is a cool experience. It has to be recognizable to everybody, solve a problem, and generate revenue.
Otherwise, you can have the best cool idea in the world. It doesn't solve a problem. It doesn't bring in revenue.
Jackie Morreale (19:37)
An entrepreneur, but you're also an innovator. It seems like part of the invention process, at least identifying low-hanging fruit and what's working.
Daniele DeMarch (19:44)
I never invented anything.
Jackie Morreale (19:45)
Seems like there should be some partnership with inventors here.
You told me that you walk in the morning and that's where you get your ideas, like your meditative state. So I think that you should just spend nine hours a day doing that and see what comes out.
Daniele DeMarch (19:55)
I always tell to my team, I can wake up in the morning and do my emails and work very good because I'm open. Then I have to do my walk and go to the swimming pool. The same when I was in Italy, I was going skiing a lot. I think when I was skiing on that chairlift, I had the best ideas for business. I come back home, and then I put it down on paper, and was successful.
Jackie Morreale (20:13)
AI can't do that. AI can't ski and sit on a chairlift, or go for a swim or a walk and get ideas.
Daniele DeMarch (20:17)
No, but AI is genius. I'm skiing and AI is sending them my emails.
We are creating a lot of these agents. I created one that is a monster. My tech partner was surprised because he had the way to speak to the machine, but I have the vision. I learned a little bit to speak to the machine, but I still have limitations.
He knows how to speak to the AI to make something happen.
But then he's missing probably the mindset, right? I have the vision, then if I speak my own language to the machine, the machine will say, 'Dude, I don't get it. I like the idea, but I don't know how to help you.' So, I think this is really the technology that we have nowadays.
Jeremy, which is my business partner, has to translate it. We have a team of developers around the world. The problem for me is that they look at me when I explain them. Then he has to come in, 'Okay, we have to do this, this to make this happen.'
I've always been fascinated by inventors like my dad, but I don't consider myself one.
I'm more pragmatic, I'm more concrete. I see it.
Jackie Morreale (21:20)
You're really good at translating for the customer and for investors, and it sounds like your partner, Jeremy, is equally good at taking that vision and translating it into what they need to make it a reality.
Daniele DeMarch (21:30)
He's a great translator because otherwise, someone like me will never be able by himself to build what we did. I need him, and he needs me in the same way. He can speak with all our partners and all these engineers, and he gets excited around them. I don't get excited about that, right? I get excited about what this can do in the market.
Jackie Morreale (21:45)
It sounds like the perfect partnership. I'm glad that you guys found each other. How did you and Jeremy meet?
Daniele DeMarch (21:50)
We worked together at Canon, so he was my solution manager. It was a great experience, great company, nothing to say, the best of all. Thanks to them, I was able to move to the US.
We did a lot for onboarding companies from Europe that want to come to the US because we have that double mindset, European and American, that helps a lot to understand people.
It's all a matter of people at the end; that's what companies are.
Jackie Morreale (22:16)
Daniele, you have so much going on. Want to talk about the floating pickleball technology with Aquabanas?
Daniele DeMarch (22:23)
Aquabanas technology; it's good to mention it because it's genius. Mark Anastasia, who is the owner and CEO of Aquabanas, has probably 30 years of experience in inflatables. They come from the big luxury yacht business. They do all these crazy things.
You see the slides that you put out of the yacht, all the way up to this pickleball court.
But it wasn't easy to build it, because I told you it had to have the right bounce. There's been a lot of engineering behind the pickleball compared to the rest. The inflatable and the cabanas are fun. But the pickleball has the reaction on the water, and the bouncing ball. So, there's been a lot of technology inside that.
I have to say thank you because they're great guys. They have an amazing company. It's here in Orlando. It's an American company.
I can bring my creativity to them, especially on the marketing side. Sometimes I think they think I'm crazy when I call them what we are working on, but in the end, they like it. It's a great partnership.
(Continued below)
Jackie Morreale (14:59)
Favorite book? Could be an Italian.
Daniele DeMarch (15:00)
It definitely is a book written in Italian. It’s the one that changed my mind and made me jump to build ELSEWAVE. There's this big entrepreneur who is named Alessandro Benetton; from a famous Italian family, the Benetton’s - the stores, the Formula 1, and everything.
He wrote this book about himself mainly, which is La Traiettoria. La traiettoria means the trajectory.
You're a skier, and this comes from skiing.
When we got the right trajectory, that's when you go fast, you go clean.
This book basically tells you that every single of us has one inside, and we don't have to be scared to follow that.
I was closing this great position of being an executive of a multinational corporation.
But it was not my trajectory. I need to do something else.
That's when we started ELSEWAVE.
Thinking about ELSEWAVE, I said, 'Well, that's what I fit'. That was my trajectory. I got back on my right track.
That book really, really changed me.
Jackie Morreale (15:56)
Do you have a favorite quote for life?
Daniele DeMarch (15:58)
Always live your life as if all your dreams are coming true, and then just make them happen. That's the big difference. Don't try to chase your dreams. Make it as if your dreams are already here, and then make it real.
I always said, there are two different people. The people sitting on the sofa watching TV, hoping to become someone, and people who are not sitting on the sofa, and they try to reach their targets.
I was the one not on the sofa, still to this day.
Jackie Morreale (16:21)
Let's talk more about ELSEWAVE. You've called it a 'boutique innovation company.' What does that actually mean to you?
Daniele DeMarch (16:24)
Boutique means very selective. I think I learned this from fashion, too.
I'm the artisan in the back.
The one making his sandals by hand, and I can build five every day.
Producing 2,000 sandals a day, everybody's going to forget it. If you buy it, you're going to throw it away.
That's why we are a boutique innovation firm.
‘Boutique’ comes really from the fashion side. Something small, something that we pay super attention to.
Sometimes they come to us, but most of the time we are the ones picking the brand, to have a real close relationship with the owner of the company of the idea. We take out the ELSEWAVE shirt and we put their own one inside. I'm executive advisor for three or four companies, and I have an email of that company.
We are part of their company because it's the only way to understand them better and help them reach the target they have in mind.
Jackie Morreale (17:15)
Let's say you go to the cruise trade show. What are you looking for?
Daniele DeMarch (17:19)
We pay attention to everything. Sometimes it drains a lot of energy.
We stop by every single booth – even the smallest.
Sometimes I laugh; I see these people at the booth, just a table, nothing on it, because everybody's around and they have big talk and big advertising, lights and music.
Most of the time, those simple tables are the people with the best technology. They are not marketing people. They are part of their technology.
We know that a couple of shows are gathering all these people.
Most of the time, they're not the people who are invited on the stage to make a speech.
If you are on stage and talk about your technology, it means you made it already. You don't need us.
We find technology that nobody's paying attention to, but they're going to change the future.
We found one in aerospace, for example, that is amazing. A super engineer developed an engine for the satellites, so they have a life because when the gas finishes, they die. We have 3,000 satellites in orbit at the moment. Most of them have a timeframe. They're going to die, and so it's a cost that goes in the dustbin.
This guy invented a system that auto generates. It's regenerating energy. The satellite can live forever and they can move it.
The problem in the market is that when they can't move the satellite anymore, they take it down and destroy it.
One guy, one company. Then it became five, now six companies, with insane technology. The technology comes from a study he did on Albert Einstein. Einstein was the one who came up first with this, and he applied it to this engine.
Jackie Morreale (18:43)
Using Einstein's formula to solve problems, and you're able to describe what it's doing. There's a level of understanding there that is pretty incredible that you have.
What separates an idea from being 'cool' versus one that's worth investing in?
Daniele DeMarch (18:57)
'Cool' is generating an interest, is generating a wow effect. Something that you say, 'I want to do it once, then I want to do it again.'
On Formula 1 simulator, when we set it up at a certain trade show, we had 600 people come try it one day.
Regularly, you have a 15-minute experience. The full experience is 15 minutes, and it's tough; you get out of that car, and you feel it.
But the five-minute experience is the one you're going to try; you get out, and you're like, 'I want to do it again.' They come back three times because they want more, 'I want to see if I can do better.'
For me, this is a cool experience. It has to be recognizable to everybody, solve a problem, and generate revenue.
Otherwise, you can have the best cool idea in the world. It doesn't solve a problem. It doesn't bring in revenue.
Jackie Morreale (19:37)
An entrepreneur, but you're also an innovator. It seems like part of the invention process, at least identifying low-hanging fruit and what's working.
Daniele DeMarch (19:44)
I never invented anything.
Jackie Morreale (19:45)
Seems like there should be some partnership with inventors here.
You told me that you walk in the morning and that's where you get your ideas, like your meditative state. So I think that you should just spend nine hours a day doing that and see what comes out.
Daniele DeMarch (19:55)
I always tell to my team, I can wake up in the morning and do my emails and work very good because I'm open. Then I have to do my walk and go to the swimming pool. The same when I was in Italy, I was going skiing a lot. I think when I was skiing on that chairlift, I had the best ideas for business. I come back home, and then I put it down on paper, and was successful.
Jackie Morreale (20:13)
AI can't do that. AI can't ski and sit on a chairlift, or go for a swim or a walk and get ideas.
Daniele DeMarch (20:17)
No, but AI is genius. I'm skiing and AI is sending them my emails.
We are creating a lot of these agents. I created one that is a monster. My tech partner was surprised because he had the way to speak to the machine, but I have the vision. I learned a little bit to speak to the machine, but I still have limitations.
He knows how to speak to the AI to make something happen.
But then he's missing probably the mindset, right? I have the vision, then if I speak my own language to the machine, the machine will say, 'Dude, I don't get it. I like the idea, but I don't know how to help you.' So, I think this is really the technology that we have nowadays.
Jeremy, which is my business partner, has to translate it. We have a team of developers around the world. The problem for me is that they look at me when I explain them. Then he has to come in, 'Okay, we have to do this, this to make this happen.'
I've always been fascinated by inventors like my dad, but I don't consider myself one.
I'm more pragmatic, I'm more concrete. I see it.
Jackie Morreale (21:20)
You're really good at translating for the customer and for investors, and it sounds like your partner, Jeremy, is equally good at taking that vision and translating it into what they need to make it a reality.
Daniele DeMarch (21:30)
He's a great translator because otherwise, someone like me will never be able by himself to build what we did. I need him, and he needs me in the same way. He can speak with all our partners and all these engineers, and he gets excited around them. I don't get excited about that, right? I get excited about what this can do in the market.
Jackie Morreale (21:45)
It sounds like the perfect partnership. I'm glad that you guys found each other. How did you and Jeremy meet?
Daniele DeMarch (21:50)
We worked together at Canon, so he was my solution manager. It was a great experience, great company, nothing to say, the best of all. Thanks to them, I was able to move to the US.
We did a lot for onboarding companies from Europe that want to come to the US because we have that double mindset, European and American, that helps a lot to understand people.
It's all a matter of people at the end; that's what companies are.
Jackie Morreale (22:16)
Daniele, you have so much going on. Want to talk about the floating pickleball technology with Aquabanas?
Daniele DeMarch (22:23)
Aquabanas technology; it's good to mention it because it's genius. Mark Anastasia, who is the owner and CEO of Aquabanas, has probably 30 years of experience in inflatables. They come from the big luxury yacht business. They do all these crazy things.
You see the slides that you put out of the yacht, all the way up to this pickleball court.
But it wasn't easy to build it, because I told you it had to have the right bounce. There's been a lot of engineering behind the pickleball compared to the rest. The inflatable and the cabanas are fun. But the pickleball has the reaction on the water, and the bouncing ball. So, there's been a lot of technology inside that.
I have to say thank you because they're great guys. They have an amazing company. It's here in Orlando. It's an American company.
I can bring my creativity to them, especially on the marketing side. Sometimes I think they think I'm crazy when I call them what we are working on, but in the end, they like it. It's a great partnership.
(Continued below)
ELSEWAVE's Floating Pickleball Court Experience in partnership with Aquabanas
(Continued)
Jackie Morreale (23:12)
Well, you're the 'experience' guy. You're the fashion trend guy!
Daniele DeMarch (23:21)
I come up with my ideas, when someone says, 'I'm not sure we can put it there.'
For example, the floating pickleball, I called them back and said, ‘They don't have the water, but they have the beach. Why can't we put that thing on the beach?' And they said, 'Yeah, you're right. We can put it on the beach.' So, we made it.
If the water in the ocean is rough, but you have a huge beach, they can still play pickleball.
Jackie Morreale (23:33)
Why not?
Daniele DeMarch (23:41)
We can put it on the beach in the same way. I'm bringing it, but for them it's more about out-of-the-box, crazy ideas.
Jackie Morreale (23:47)
Those are the best ideas, the crazy out-of-the-box ones. Who wants to color in the lines? That's not how the future changes. Shout out to the folks at Aquabanas. It sounds like you're really doing amazing things. I can't wait to see where it goes.
If someone who's listening wants to build something innovative but doesn't know where to start or perhaps market something innovative, what's step one?
Daniele DeMarch (24:10)
Step one: if you're an innovator, you know how to make something innovative.
It's not that they're missing the idea.
It's like when you make a song or you make music. You have that idea, you got inspiration, or you're not going to do it.
Now you can do it with the AI also, but again, you need inspiration, you need to have an idea.
The real problem is the market.
The problem is, most of the time, the idea doesn't go with where we help them. Sometimes we have some technology that really is so new there's no market.
So they have no competition, which sometimes is kind of difficult, more so than having 55 people doing the same thing, which means it works.
How can we make it better? How we can make it different? Sometimes there's no market, like this satellite engine, so you have to build it. But even in the medical, I've seen pretty good stuff that, it's great technology, but they don't know how to market.
They don't know how to position that.
Now they think, I'm going to hire an influencer and that's going to make the difference. Not anymore, it depends what you're doing.
The difference that we have is really having a good network of relationship and learning from these people. I'm not teaching anybody. I'm learning from them every single day.
Every single day, I get in touch with one of these people, engineers.
I listen, I learn about their technology, I study their technology. I make it mine, and then I'm able to apply all my knowledge or try to find 'what you think, what you make.' We have an amazing AI technology that we're working on. This is coming from Italy.
Jackie Morreale (25:29)
Interesting. Does your next wave of ELSEWAVE projects include AI projects?
Daniele DeMarch (25:35)
Honestly, we built one at the beginning of ELSEWAVE; It was just me and Jeremy playing with AI. And we built one of the first with a partner of ours, who is in India, a super great guy.
It is one of the first HR solutions with AI that basically allows you to have an interview with the AI without knowing it's the AI. So, it gives you a call, speaks with your voice, and asks you questions. In this way, the AI basically was generating a new appointment, calling you back, the voice of the recruiter, and you were making the interview, and you're answering all the questions.
In the morning, the recruiter was coming back having already a report of the interview was, the scoring point.
Jackie Morreale (26:11)
Gosh, you created something to replace me right now. At any time of day, in my voice!
Daniele DeMarch (26:14)
No, we cannot replace anybody. This type of discussion between you and me will be completely different.
I could do it, use my own AI. I always say I'm going to invent myself. Something that can do all these conference calls.
Jackie Morreale (26:32)
Wouldn't that be nice, just a clone, to do all the stuff that you don't want to do and double productivity?
Daniele DeMarch (26:35)
Yes, especially for the conference calls. I think we are close to that. I saw technology, and that's kind of scary.
Jackie Morreale (26:42)
True, funny thing about the podcast is you start with a list of questions, and then you always get totally different ones, which is the best part. That's the human part. That's why I listen to podcasts.
Daniele DeMarch (26:45)
Never ends up the same. That's my fault, lol.
Jackie Morreale (26:52)
Where do you see the experiential luxury business going over the next 5 to 10 years?
Daniele DeMarch (26:56)
Especially in the hospitality business, which they're a little bit lacking in, will be offering more experiences. You're going to see it also soon in Palm Beach.
I cannot disclose it, but it's coming soon.
Experience, as we said, experience!
Luxury is going to be more into experience, which means restaurants with a dine show.
Miami's been big on that. Probably the two best restaurants at the moment are the ones that show during the dining experience. They're going to take you on a cruise. It's not only going to be a cruise, relaxed and comfortable.
No, they always have to make you do something. They're going to take you with the helicopter to the island.
It’s all about experience. Probably leaving an experience like that is not easy to live.
Even if I'm not a big fan of space, myself – I like our world, I like our earth – if you talk to all my investors, their dream is to go into space. To cruise space!
It's always an experience, right?
Jackie Morreale (27:42)
I didn't know that was an option! That's great. That's the big dreams that you can make reality.
Daniele DeMarch (27:47)
Everybody's trying to explore space because it's the only thing they haven't experienced yet.
Experience is: Bringing an experience to everybody that only a few could live.
That's probably the simulator, in a way, because you cannot drive a Formula 1 car. You're going to crash into the wall as you did. It's going to cost a couple of million dollars. So do it with a simulator.
Jackie Morreale (28:04)
Yes, thank you for reminding me.
Daniele DeMarch (28:08)
You got to get the experience and you're back on track, with no cost.
Jackie Morreale (28:08)
Exactly. 30 seconds later, you crash into a wall, then you're back. No injuries, no fire, no company looking to sue you for the car that you just destroyed. You're good!
Daniele DeMarch (28:14)
You might a little bit shocked, but... all good.
In the luxury business, everything has to be an experience. They're selling experience now.
They're not selling trips, packages, or hotel rooms. They're selling the experience. It's all about that.
Jackie Morreale (28:30)
With experience, it's quality over quantity.
Anybody that you want to shout out for helping you get to where you are today?
Daniele DeMarch (28:39)
There is a unique list of people that I have to say thank you to.
First of all, as I said, my dad, definitely.
My brother, which has been a great brother, I always took him as an example.
My mom was more the art side of me, she was the more artistic side.
Then I have a lot of people that I met. My life has always been meeting people that I never thought about meeting. It gives me that learning curve.
So, I have to thank John Casablancas. Then my boss at the agency, Anna Peggion, who was super strict, super strict. I remember spending hours correcting the color of a palette on a presentation. We were like 25 years old, and my colleague Antonetta, at nine o'clock in the evening in Milano, 'Let's go home,' and we got, 'No, we need to review!’
I learned those details are the ones making the difference, especially in the luxury business.
It went on with my boss at Canon, from whom I really learned a lot. Until now, because every time I speak to someone here in Palm Beach, it's a learning curve.
I love to learn stories. Everybody here has a story, and it's great to learn from them.
Jackie Morreale (29:43)
What is next for you? Are you going back to Milano anytime soon?
Daniele DeMarch (29:47)
That has been the question that I've never been able to answer. All my life has been spent moving from one place to another, so I'm kind of used to it. Honestly, finding a better place than where we are now, here in South Florida, is difficult. Although I'm missing a lot about Milan and Italy. I also did university in Sweden, so I've been everywhere.
Jackie Morreale (30:06)
Well, I hope you stick around for a while. And one day when you do go back, we'll have to meet up on the slopes, Cortina d'Ampezzo!
Daniele DeMarch (30:08)
Yeah! You're going to be our guest.
Jackie Morreale (30:13)
Thank you so much. So sweet. Talk to you soon. Take Care!
Daniele DeMarch (30:13)
Absolutely. Thank you. Talk to you soon.
To learn more about Daniele DeMarch and his company, ELSEWAVE, visit: elsewave.com
Jackie Morreale (23:12)
Well, you're the 'experience' guy. You're the fashion trend guy!
Daniele DeMarch (23:21)
I come up with my ideas, when someone says, 'I'm not sure we can put it there.'
For example, the floating pickleball, I called them back and said, ‘They don't have the water, but they have the beach. Why can't we put that thing on the beach?' And they said, 'Yeah, you're right. We can put it on the beach.' So, we made it.
If the water in the ocean is rough, but you have a huge beach, they can still play pickleball.
Jackie Morreale (23:33)
Why not?
Daniele DeMarch (23:41)
We can put it on the beach in the same way. I'm bringing it, but for them it's more about out-of-the-box, crazy ideas.
Jackie Morreale (23:47)
Those are the best ideas, the crazy out-of-the-box ones. Who wants to color in the lines? That's not how the future changes. Shout out to the folks at Aquabanas. It sounds like you're really doing amazing things. I can't wait to see where it goes.
If someone who's listening wants to build something innovative but doesn't know where to start or perhaps market something innovative, what's step one?
Daniele DeMarch (24:10)
Step one: if you're an innovator, you know how to make something innovative.
It's not that they're missing the idea.
It's like when you make a song or you make music. You have that idea, you got inspiration, or you're not going to do it.
Now you can do it with the AI also, but again, you need inspiration, you need to have an idea.
The real problem is the market.
The problem is, most of the time, the idea doesn't go with where we help them. Sometimes we have some technology that really is so new there's no market.
So they have no competition, which sometimes is kind of difficult, more so than having 55 people doing the same thing, which means it works.
How can we make it better? How we can make it different? Sometimes there's no market, like this satellite engine, so you have to build it. But even in the medical, I've seen pretty good stuff that, it's great technology, but they don't know how to market.
They don't know how to position that.
Now they think, I'm going to hire an influencer and that's going to make the difference. Not anymore, it depends what you're doing.
The difference that we have is really having a good network of relationship and learning from these people. I'm not teaching anybody. I'm learning from them every single day.
Every single day, I get in touch with one of these people, engineers.
I listen, I learn about their technology, I study their technology. I make it mine, and then I'm able to apply all my knowledge or try to find 'what you think, what you make.' We have an amazing AI technology that we're working on. This is coming from Italy.
Jackie Morreale (25:29)
Interesting. Does your next wave of ELSEWAVE projects include AI projects?
Daniele DeMarch (25:35)
Honestly, we built one at the beginning of ELSEWAVE; It was just me and Jeremy playing with AI. And we built one of the first with a partner of ours, who is in India, a super great guy.
It is one of the first HR solutions with AI that basically allows you to have an interview with the AI without knowing it's the AI. So, it gives you a call, speaks with your voice, and asks you questions. In this way, the AI basically was generating a new appointment, calling you back, the voice of the recruiter, and you were making the interview, and you're answering all the questions.
In the morning, the recruiter was coming back having already a report of the interview was, the scoring point.
Jackie Morreale (26:11)
Gosh, you created something to replace me right now. At any time of day, in my voice!
Daniele DeMarch (26:14)
No, we cannot replace anybody. This type of discussion between you and me will be completely different.
I could do it, use my own AI. I always say I'm going to invent myself. Something that can do all these conference calls.
Jackie Morreale (26:32)
Wouldn't that be nice, just a clone, to do all the stuff that you don't want to do and double productivity?
Daniele DeMarch (26:35)
Yes, especially for the conference calls. I think we are close to that. I saw technology, and that's kind of scary.
Jackie Morreale (26:42)
True, funny thing about the podcast is you start with a list of questions, and then you always get totally different ones, which is the best part. That's the human part. That's why I listen to podcasts.
Daniele DeMarch (26:45)
Never ends up the same. That's my fault, lol.
Jackie Morreale (26:52)
Where do you see the experiential luxury business going over the next 5 to 10 years?
Daniele DeMarch (26:56)
Especially in the hospitality business, which they're a little bit lacking in, will be offering more experiences. You're going to see it also soon in Palm Beach.
I cannot disclose it, but it's coming soon.
Experience, as we said, experience!
Luxury is going to be more into experience, which means restaurants with a dine show.
Miami's been big on that. Probably the two best restaurants at the moment are the ones that show during the dining experience. They're going to take you on a cruise. It's not only going to be a cruise, relaxed and comfortable.
No, they always have to make you do something. They're going to take you with the helicopter to the island.
It’s all about experience. Probably leaving an experience like that is not easy to live.
Even if I'm not a big fan of space, myself – I like our world, I like our earth – if you talk to all my investors, their dream is to go into space. To cruise space!
It's always an experience, right?
Jackie Morreale (27:42)
I didn't know that was an option! That's great. That's the big dreams that you can make reality.
Daniele DeMarch (27:47)
Everybody's trying to explore space because it's the only thing they haven't experienced yet.
Experience is: Bringing an experience to everybody that only a few could live.
That's probably the simulator, in a way, because you cannot drive a Formula 1 car. You're going to crash into the wall as you did. It's going to cost a couple of million dollars. So do it with a simulator.
Jackie Morreale (28:04)
Yes, thank you for reminding me.
Daniele DeMarch (28:08)
You got to get the experience and you're back on track, with no cost.
Jackie Morreale (28:08)
Exactly. 30 seconds later, you crash into a wall, then you're back. No injuries, no fire, no company looking to sue you for the car that you just destroyed. You're good!
Daniele DeMarch (28:14)
You might a little bit shocked, but... all good.
In the luxury business, everything has to be an experience. They're selling experience now.
They're not selling trips, packages, or hotel rooms. They're selling the experience. It's all about that.
Jackie Morreale (28:30)
With experience, it's quality over quantity.
Anybody that you want to shout out for helping you get to where you are today?
Daniele DeMarch (28:39)
There is a unique list of people that I have to say thank you to.
First of all, as I said, my dad, definitely.
My brother, which has been a great brother, I always took him as an example.
My mom was more the art side of me, she was the more artistic side.
Then I have a lot of people that I met. My life has always been meeting people that I never thought about meeting. It gives me that learning curve.
So, I have to thank John Casablancas. Then my boss at the agency, Anna Peggion, who was super strict, super strict. I remember spending hours correcting the color of a palette on a presentation. We were like 25 years old, and my colleague Antonetta, at nine o'clock in the evening in Milano, 'Let's go home,' and we got, 'No, we need to review!’
I learned those details are the ones making the difference, especially in the luxury business.
It went on with my boss at Canon, from whom I really learned a lot. Until now, because every time I speak to someone here in Palm Beach, it's a learning curve.
I love to learn stories. Everybody here has a story, and it's great to learn from them.
Jackie Morreale (29:43)
What is next for you? Are you going back to Milano anytime soon?
Daniele DeMarch (29:47)
That has been the question that I've never been able to answer. All my life has been spent moving from one place to another, so I'm kind of used to it. Honestly, finding a better place than where we are now, here in South Florida, is difficult. Although I'm missing a lot about Milan and Italy. I also did university in Sweden, so I've been everywhere.
Jackie Morreale (30:06)
Well, I hope you stick around for a while. And one day when you do go back, we'll have to meet up on the slopes, Cortina d'Ampezzo!
Daniele DeMarch (30:08)
Yeah! You're going to be our guest.
Jackie Morreale (30:13)
Thank you so much. So sweet. Talk to you soon. Take Care!
Daniele DeMarch (30:13)
Absolutely. Thank you. Talk to you soon.
To learn more about Daniele DeMarch and his company, ELSEWAVE, visit: elsewave.com
Formula 1 Simulator Experience in partnership with ITRS, side view
Continued reading, recommended by Daniele DeMarch:
My Trajectory by Alessandro Benetton (Hardcover), in English exclusively by Hudson Booksellers
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Think YOU can Race like a Formula 1 Driver?Friends of Wisdom for Wannabes can get 15% off your Formula 1 racing simulator event booking with code ELSEWAVE15, when booking an event now through June 12, 2026.
Events must take place before December 31, 2026. Learn more at ITRS Racing Simulator website, or contact ELSEWAVE. |
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