Three years in Brighton, ten years remote: what I learned

Brighton, 2012

It all started in 2012, just two years after launching Syncronika, when I moved (a slightly mad move) to Brighton in the UK, leaving a team of four in an office in Ferrara.

It was meant to be a short break—a few months of fresh air.

Time flew, and I ended up staying three years :)

What changed my mind about distance

In that period I learned something that changed everything: you can do serious work at a distance. You don’t need badges, assigned desks, or vending-machine coffee to build something real.

2015: no fixed office in Ferrara

When I came back to Italy, I made a drastic call: I closed Syncronika’s fixed office in Ferrara. In its place, flexible space in Milan—rooms and desks you book only when you need them.

It was 2015. Nobody was really saying “smart” or “remote” work yet. We did it by instinct—for lifestyle, efficiency, vision.

Then the world caught up. With the pandemic, remote work became the norm.

Today’s swing

Today, in 2025, I see the opposite trend: a return to the office. Hybrid, flexible—but still in person.

And you know what? It makes perfect sense.

Because remote work isn’t for everyone.

It works when the team is small, well-rehearsed, autonomous. When culture is strong. When trust is real—not declared. For us, so far, it has been. And that’s no accident.

What you give up

Above all, it asks for trade-offs.

You give up daily bumping into people. Spontaneous growth. The speed of some decisions made on the fly over coffee.

You give up part of the team’s cultural growth.

You also give up economic opportunities: clients who always want to meet in person, collaborations that are harder to run remotely, and people who still read a “head office” as a signal of solidity.

A meeting point, not a routine

Today, when we need to, we meet in person in a great Spaces office near Porta Nuova. It’s not home, it’s not a daily commute—but it’s our place to meet.

It’s a choice. And like every important choice, it comes with compromises.

We made it ten years ago. We’ve never regretted it. But I’ll never sell it as a fairy tale.

We chose this freedom to build the life we wanted. Maybe that matters more than the numbers—and it takes courage.

Remote work is freedom. But like any real freedom, it has a price.

We paid it for ten years.

And yes—we’re happy with the path we took! 🙂