MichaelXenakis
Founder, Via Foundry
Strategy · Commercial Growth · Operations
Rome, Italy · mikexenakis@gmail.com
I combine AI and strategy to turn a company’s existing strengths into greater efficiency, profitability and capacity for growth.
Selected results
- ~$100Min U.S. commodity exports protected through resolution of a U.S.–Italy regulatory dispute
- ~50×return on the cost of in-person marketing initiatives at Infinity Unconventional Education
- +20%direct bookings year on year in the first month after rebuilding the booking journey
From strategy to execution
I start with the commercial objective and how the business actually works. I bring leadership, teams and partners around clear priorities, then design and build the processes, workflows and software needed to deliver them.
Selected Projects
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Booking PlatformLive Direct bookings rose 20% year on year in the first month after rebuilding the booking journey.
- Situation
- A tourism company needed a clearer path from discovery to booking and a connection between bookings and operations.
- My contribution
- I rebuilt the booking journey, clarified products and prices, and linked bookings to operations.
- Outcome
- Direct bookings rose 20% year on year in the first month; booking income doubled in low season.
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Payments PlatformLive An integrated payment product turned third-party processing fees into a revenue line for the platform.
- Situation
- Software serving thousands of small businesses was passing payment fees to a third-party processor.
- My contribution
- I designed and built a payment product within the existing platform.
- Outcome
- Processing fees became the platform’s own revenue line without acquiring new customers.
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Business Development SystemIn use The system brings prospect research, company knowledge and sales follow-up into one business-development workflow.
- Situation
- Business development required prospect research, company context and a clear next action for each relationship.
- My contribution
- I built and deployed a system using AI agents to research prospects, organise company knowledge and manage the pipeline.
- Outcome
- In use in corporate learning to keep track of who to call, what happened and what comes next.
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B2B Ordering AgentPrototype The prototype turns multi-screen order entry into one message for sales agents.
- Situation
- A food distributor’s sales agents had to navigate multiple screens to enter restaurant orders.
- My contribution
- I mapped the process with sales agents and prototyped an agent for written or dictated orders in Italian, English and Spanish.
- Outcome
- The prototype matches products with customer-specific prices, stock and delivery dates.
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Expense & Reimbursement ToolIn daily use Receipts, voice notes and text become categorised expenses and reimbursement reports through chat.
- Situation
- Expense tracking needed to capture who paid, trip costs and recurring expenses for reimbursement and month-end.
- My contribution
- I built a tool that records expenses from receipts, voice notes or text and prepares reports.
- Outcome
- In daily use for expense tracking and reimbursement reporting.
Experience
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2026–Present
Via Foundry
Founder
- Founded and lead Via Foundry, taking work from the business objective through process design, software development and implementation across operations, sales and marketing.
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2025
Butterfield & Robinson
Experience Consultant
- Ran luxury trips for international guests at a $50M travel company, managing logistics, guest experience and on-the-ground delivery to company standards. Gained a view across marketing, sales, tour design, guiding and partnerships.
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2023–2025
U.S. Embassy Rome · USDA
Agricultural Marketing & Market Development
- Served as the diplomatic link in resolving a regulatory dispute affecting ~$100M of U.S. commodity exports. Aligned Italy’s Ministry of Health, USDA in Rome and Washington, industry and importers on a workable solution.
- Developed market-entry strategies and commercial bids for U.S. exporters entering Italy; supported contract negotiation and structuring.
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2021–2023
Infinity Unconventional Education
Marketing Director
- Led business development, marketing and executive client relationships for a corporate-learning agency serving Ferrari, Gucci, Prada, Lamborghini, Valentino and Nespresso.
- Made in-person events and personal relationships the core of business development, building community networks and B2B partnerships. In-person initiatives returned about 50× their cost.
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2020–2021
Flazio
Director of Marketing, USA
- Led the U.S. launch of an Italian website builder competing with Wix and Squarespace on a fraction of their budgets, with responsibility for positioning, creative and paid acquisition across Google, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
- Built a U.S. customer base equal to ~6% of the established Italian base within six months, with positive acquisition ROI throughout.
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2017–2020
Independent
Performance Marketing, New York
- Managed paid acquisition and content for small businesses across Google, Facebook and LinkedIn.
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2014–2016
United Nations FAO
Policy, Economics & Monitoring
- Analysed agricultural economies and value chains in six Sub-Saharan African countries to inform policy, working with ministries, field teams and economic datasets.
What collaborators say
Creative without becoming abstract. Commercial without becoming fake. Social without becoming superficial.
Michael creates visibility through genuine curiosity — bringing people together, earning trust and turning attention into collaboration.
Education
University of Redlands
Economics & Mathematics
English (native) · Italian (fluent)
Technology
Multi-agent orchestration with LLMs · SQL databases