The Dream
Well, well, well… This was a big one. Why? I think everyone living in the West has been shaped by the culture exported from the US—specifically from California. The imaginary world built around such a place is deeply rooted in our identity. Since years I wanted to satisfy the urge to see it with my own eyes and experience sunny California for myself.
This trip wasn’t just about visiting: it was about chasing a naive (?) dream shared by many—starting with the Uber driver who picked me up from the airport, who was dreaming of becoming an actor. My dream was to dive into LA and maybe get lucky—perhaps meet someone who could spot some talent in me or give me a chance to prove my dedication and grit. To land a job or something job related. The idea was to be in the place where things happen, where innovation and pioneering take center stage, where I could be among the first to discover what's new. I was ready to be completely engulfed by it.
As soon as I arrived, I could breathe a different air—it was electrifying. Sure, I was wearing some sugarcoated glasses (reminds me of when Betty arrives to LA in "Mulholland Drive" ), but if there’s any place in the world where dreams feel possible, it’s California, or at least, that's how I felt. It gave me a "La La Land" vibe, where people radiated energy, where no ideas or approach to life seemed too big or too wild. Their attitude was more like, "Okay dude, it sounds crazy, but you’re working on it right? That’s good, keep going, and we’ll see."
Big Tech Tour
Thanks to some connections and simply spreading the word about my Cali visit, I had the opportunity to meet brilliant people working in tech and media. Thanks to my friend P, I visited Google Playa Vista, a converted hangar that was surely impressive. They told me there was a massive empty room they didn’t know what to do with, so they started organizing challenges to see who could fly paper planes the farthest. Wild.
I also visited Google's HQ in Mountain View—twice!—and enjoyed two free lunches. It was amusing when I entered the building with L; he greeted a colleague and immediately told me, "That guy landed a rover on Mars." That was the caliber of professionals working there. As I always say, I prefer to be a bush in a sequoia park rather than a palm in the desert.
At HTC in San Francisco, I arranged a meeting—sort of. They stopped replying at some point, so I decided to just ring the bell. It worked, and I had the chance to learn more about what they were doing and see if I might fit in.
And then, Apple! What an amazing piece of architecture their HQ is. It felt like a spaceship that had landed on Earth and was also very secluded. It was not as accessible as the other places. I tried to show up at the entrance, asking if someone might be available to meet me. Without hesitation, they handed me a card. Oh! A business card. What was on it? www.jobs.apple.com. Oh! Silly me! How did I not think of that? Why did I travel 12,000 km when I could have applied from home? Thanks, reception people, you really enlightened me.
Google, HTC, Apple—who else?
“Long Time no see!”
Facebook. The trailblazer of the new VR wave after the Oculus acquisition. I had tried and tried for weeks to connect with someone there, but with no luck. Facebook felt insular, but I wasn’t about to give up after traveling 12,000 km. Menlo Park was just 30 minutes by car from where I was staying, so I thought, “Am I giving up? Certainly not!”
I arrived at Menlo Park, parked my yellow Smart car, and jumped on one of the Facebook bikes to start touring the exterior. There were plenty of buildings—so which one was dedicated to Oculus VR? I asked a valet for some info, and he directed me to Building 18. Nice, I knew the building. But when I reached it, I notice that a badge was required...obviously. I sat on a bench for a while, thinking about my strategy. I quickly jumped on LinkedIn and listed all the employees in Menlo Park, looking for someone who might be less inclined to push me away. Developers? Not really. Busy executives? Nope. Who might be more open to external engagement? The Head of Partnerships! A person constantly interacting outside the studio. And you know what? I’d seen him years before during an event on stage before he started working at Facebook, that was my guy. I had a plan.
Time to enter the building—how? Tailgating. Did I know it was illegal? Genuinely no, I didn't. Did I succeed? Yes.
As soon as I entered, the admin promptly asked me to identify myself. Their tone was rather stern and pointed. So I came up with the oldest excuse: “Oh well, I was passing by and wanted to surprise my friend B. He’s not aware I’m here, but yeah, it was meant to be a surprise.” They were skeptical but after some hesitation, they asked me to fill out the registration form, wait in the lobby and they called B. Success!
I sat in the lobby, admiring all the previous iterations of the Oculus headset arranged on a vertical wall. Of course, I was nervous, but I had to find a way to engage with B and maybe land an invite to the upcoming Oculus Connect. At some point, he appeared on the other side of the turnstiles. I started smiling, walked toward him, and said, “B! Long time no see!” He replied, “Long time no see,” with a stunned smile, clearly searching his mental database for who I was. I quickly engaged him, making up a reason why I was there, explaining how we were best friends after that bold demo he gave on stage years ago. I played on the fact that he couldn’t remember me because, after all, you meet tons of people at festivals. My story was credible, and I felt so confident that I assumed he’d give me a tour inside and get a free coffee. But nope, I was pushing it too far. We ended up sitting in the lobby discussing various topics for about 15 minutes. I managed to get his work email, but in the following days, he never replied. It was worth a try. Young me took this tailgating thing a little too lightly, but that’s history now.
The VC encounter
I also met a pretty big Venture Capitalist (VC) I had previously encountered in Milan. He had Italian roots (as 99% of Americans...or this is what they claim), so I played on that. He told me to meet him at a cafe in Palo Alto—a very nice place. We chatted for about 20 minutes, but then I went to the toilet. When I came back, I found two other people already seated in my place, discussing something with him. My time with him was over sooner than expected, and the goodbye was abrupt—actually, not really a goodbye at all. This was one of the most iconic examples of how Americans always have five minutes for you—the famous elevator pitch. They’re opportunistic in the sense that they look for the chicken with the golden eggs everywhere, without preconceptions, and that’s very nice. An equal opportunity for everyone. At the same time, if you don’t meet their expectations in those five minutes, you’re out. No mercy.
Other Networking Adventures
Magnopus
I arranged a lunch in Downtown LA with B, a producer at Magnopus. We were the same age, had a good chat, and he was a nice guy, but at first glance, he seemed like just an ordinary person. So I wondered, why was he working for such a big company on such cool projects, while I wasn’t? A simple (or perhaps simplistic) answer is that he was part of the system. He studied in the US, he was a US citizen, and he had all the labels the employer was looking for. Let’s consider this arrogant scenario based on zero evidence. Let’s assume I could’ve been a more skilled, passionate, and determined candidate for that role than him. What if B wasn’t as good as this foreigner (me)? From the employer perspective, that would’ve been fine. Unless the foreigner is an exceptional and already recognized professional with a notable background and career, they’ll always prefer someone like him over the foreigner. At first glance, I wasn’t worth the paperwork trouble and the money required to sponsor me—a fact I really needed to face at some point during this trip.
Digital Humans Workshop
I also attended a workshop on Digital Humans at Phase2 in Culver City, constantly seeking ways to engage with the immersive media and tech network in LA. It was an informal session, rich with insights on the past projects these key players had worked on and their vision for the future of media and tech. Among the speakers was Paul Debevec, one of the G.O.A.T.s of computer graphics research. I approached him at the end of the workshop, but I couldn’t add anything to the table that he didn’t already know, obviously. Nonetheless, he seemed very friendly and happy to receive my book as a gift and started reading a few pages here and there, even asking me for a photo. I could have raised the bar by asking him for a visit to his lab, but I didn’t find an elegant way to do that at the time. Still, I met other people who were working on some projects, and I expressed curiosity about visiting them in the following days to learn more.
Sundance Winner
One of the other guests at Phase2 was K, a set designer who had recently worked on a VR experience that premiered at Sundance, which she won! She invited me to her place to experience her piece and discuss it. She was very open in sharing the struggle of pivoting from set design in Hollywood movies to becoming an immersive media artist. Winning one of the top three immersive festivals in the world wasn’t enough to secure her next project. She was quickly disillusioned by the harsh reality: a business model and demand for such content didn’t exist yet. Moreover, while countries like Canada, Europe, and Taiwan had public funding for XR projects, the US had none that I knew of. Some countries had decided to invest without expecting any profit in such projects, but the US wasn’t one of them.
VHIL at Stanford
When I visited the VHIL at Stanford, managed by another G.O.A.T., Jeremy Bailenson, I had a similar experience to the one I had with Paul Debevec. It was a quick encounter and didn't have much to add to the table at the time. They invited me to have try of some of their projects. Initially, I wasn’t particularly impressed by the technical quality of their VR experiences. But then I realized that the goal of their research isn’t the same as creating VR marketing experiences or crafting cinematic stories. The focus is on research, and the experience needs to serve the purpose of the study. While it can't be just a collection of abstract grey cubes and cylinders, you can afford to be more forgiving when it comes to visual artistry in this context. This visit broadened my understanding of the various use cases and contexts where XR can be applied.
Lessons Learned
Free lunches at big tech companies are nice, but seriously, what are the takeaways I gained after spending everything I earned from the new business commission and using all my annual leave?
- The Power of Culture and Place: California's influence on global culture is undeniable. Being there, in a place that has shaped so much of who I am, was both inspiring and humbling.
- Dreams and Reality: While California feels like the place where dreams can come true, just being there isn’t enough. Achieving those dreams requires strategic effort, persistence, and luck.
- Networking is Everything: Connections are crucial. Being introduced to the right people and getting the chance to visit places like Google and Apple showed me how much doors can open when you know the right people.
- Persistence Pays Off: Whether it was tailgating at Facebook or ringing the bell at HTC, I learned that sometimes, being bold and persistent can literally and figuratively get you through the door.
- Facing Cultural and Systemic Barriers: It was frustrating to realize that being an outsider in a system that favors its own can hold you back, no matter how talented or passionate you are.
- The Industry is Cutthroat: My abrupt meeting with the VC made it clear that the entertainment and tech industries can be incredibly harsh, with little room for error or hesitation.
- Adaptability is Key: Hearing the set designer’s story about pivoting to immersive media and still struggling despite her success reminded me how important it is to be adaptable and resilient in changing industries.
- Timing Matters: When I met Paul Debevec, I didn’t push for a lab visit because it didn’t feel like the right time. Knowing when to hold back is just as important as knowing when to push forward.
- The Reality of the American Dream: While America might offer equal opportunities on the surface, truly seizing them is much harder, especially for someone outside the system.
- Experience Over Theory: There’s no substitute for firsthand experience. The insights I gained, the people I met, and the lessons I learned are far more valuable than anything I could have picked up in theory.
Once I returned home, I felt an overwhelming sense of relaxation. It's hard to put into words, but I was truly at peace with myself. Did I land the job I was hoping for? No. So what? I finally lived out an experience I had always dreamed of. It was an adventure, and the real goal was the life experience itself. I no longer had to fantasize about it—I now had tangible memories based on reality. I did it. Time for the next adventure.