How Alberto in Italy played the Long Game
TGS firm built international revenue from zero to profit in 5 years
Stories from the TGS network, gathered and written by John-Paul Flintoff.
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While most firms expect immediate results from network membership, Alberto Cantarello played a longer game, and it's paying off handsomely.
When his Turin-based firm Athena joined TGS in 2018, he made his partners a promise that would make most accountants nervous: give me time, even if we don't cover our costs.
How it started
In 2017, fresh from a merger that created Athena, Alberto immediately pushed for membership of an international network.
He’d tried joining a network before, but the firm was too small.
Now he sent fresh requests to three or four different networks. They all replied positively. All of them wanted Athena.
But TGS stood out, he says:
He liked that, in any country, there was usually not more than one or two TGS member firms.
TGS was the only network to talk about values and principles.
In particular, TGS talked with obvious passion about SMEs.
“That’s very useful for us,” says Alberto. “We are very focused on SMEs. We are an SME ourselves.”
He looked at the websites of nearby TGS firms in Spain and France, and this confirmed the SME focus.
Internal Politics
How to sell TGS to his partners? About 10% loved the idea, 10% hated it, and 80% said “cover costs or we're out.”
Alberto knew that joining the network would not yield instant profits, so he made a counter-proposal: “Give me until 2021."
In fact, he needed longer.
By 2021 the network had brought in work but not enough to cover membership costs, such as attending conferences. “This is about money,” Alberto says. “That’s the thing that most partners think about.”
But the direction of travel was promising, and he negotiated an extension to 2023: “Now the referrals are good.”
The Investment Phase
New network members, Alberto says, should understand it’s not possible to cover costs for the first two or three years.
More than that, “You must give before you receive.”
He’s heard passive network members complain about getting no referrals - members who skip conferences and therefore never build relationships.
For this kind of passive member to expect referrals strikes Alberto as unrealistic: “It's easy for me to refer to people I have met.”
The Multiplier Effects
As well as bringing in profitable work, TGS membership has produced additional benefits for Alberto:
Personal development: his English is improving every day, through network engagement
Thought leadership: his famous pasta webinar featured on the TGS LinkedIn channel
Strategic advantage: TGS credibility opening doors with chambers of commerce
The Lessons
For Network Success:
Patience pays: expect 3 to 5 years to break even
Visibility matters: "I never see you in conferences or webinars"
Give first: relationships before revenue
Consistency beats intensity: steady presence over sporadic bursts
The Alberto Method:
Manage internal scepticism with realistic timelines
Build relationships through consistent presence
Leverage network credibility for local opportunities
Be creative to stand out (pasta + business = memorable)
Closing
Today, as referrals flow regularly to Athena and Alberto's become one of TGS's most recognisable members, his 5-year bet looks like strategic brilliance. He'll be the first to tell you it wasn't brilliance but patience, consistency, and understanding a simple truth: in networking, you reap what you sow - just not immediately.
The question isn't whether Alberto's approach works. It’s whether you have the patience to replicate it.