My story: from a family shop in Kerala to building 10x Marketing Lab
I'm Cian Pacifico, born Sarath, a marketer, founder and visual storyteller from Mala, Kerala, living in Genova, Italy. This is how I got here. It's not a straight line: there were wins, a failed startup, debt, a pandemic, and a lot of learning along the way.
Age 15: my first business lessons
When I was about 15, my dad closed his air-conditioning workshop in Saudi Arabia and came home to Mala. He opened SP Vessels, a small retail shop, and for the next seven years most of my weekends and holidays were spent behind its counter: selling, handling the cash register, watching how a small business really works.
I didn't love giving up my free time. Today I'm grateful for it. That shop taught me what income, margins and risk look like up close, and it has supported our family ever since.
2013: my first dollar online and discovering SEO
In my third year of university I tried everything to earn online: posting ads, surveys, even day trading with my father's account (I lost money). Then I found a simpler idea: build websites people visit, and earn from ads.
I built my first basic sites and earned my first dollar online. It meant a lot then, and it still does. To get traffic, I had to learn how Google decides what to rank. That's how I discovered SEO: not a program you run, but understanding what people search for and making your page the best answer. My second website ranked number one for many keywords and became a real source of income.
2015: moving to Italy
After university I planned a Master's in Germany. Life changed that plan, and I came to Italy instead, on a scholarship for a Master's at the University of Genova. Italy turned into much more than a new address. It's where I picked up my first DSLR and started taking photography seriously, travelled, and began imagining a life built on my own skills.
It wasn't smooth. My websites were hacked with no backups, my scholarship payments were delayed, and I kept living as if things were fine. I learned about money the hard way.
2015–2017: doing everything, and becoming "Cian Pacifico"
I learned WordPress and launched several blogs at once (travel, photography, finance) while freelancing in photography, video and digital marketing. I wanted to be a digital nomad who did it all alone. Spread across so many projects, I earned very little from any of them.
In 2017 I started using the name Cian Pacifico: a name for the work I wanted to put into the world, one that could travel across cultures and platforms.
2018–2020: the startup that failed
I dreamed of a startup that combined everything I loved. Live the Map was a platform for curated travel experiences for backpackers, van-lifers and nature lovers. I moved to Milan in 2018, put my savings and income into it, and learned every part of digital marketing I could to prepare its launch. To pay the bills I shot photography projects around Milan, built WordPress sites and did food deliveries for Glovo.
It never reached a real launch. I tried to do everything myself instead of asking people who knew more, I made a bad bet on a cryptocurrency, and I ended up in debt. In 2019 I started Mexopi Digital, a small agency focused on media (photo and video content), with web and marketing alongside, partly to keep Live the Map alive. Then COVID-19 arrived.
2020: the reset
The pandemic ended Live the Map, and it made me stop and look honestly at my choices. I moved from Milan to Genova, built a proper workspace, cut out distractions and some people, and learned discipline, maybe the most valuable skill I have. My family helped me restructure my debt, and I repaid what I could to the investor who had believed in Live the Map.
With the world in lockdown, I focused on the one thing that clearly worked: digital marketing. Mexopi Digital shifted from media to marketing, helping businesses move their marketing online one client at a time. Around the same time, Arjun Raghunath invited me to co-found Relaykart as its digital marketing strategist. Seeing it launch and grow gave me real confidence in what I could do. Today I'm an investor in Relaykart.
2021–2023: growing up as a marketer
In 2021 Tomaso Forno joined me as a partner, and I registered Businezz Club as the parent company for our work. Together we started bringing on local Italian businesses that needed help with their marketing during and after the lockdowns. Clients grew, and so did the results.
A long, unplanned stay in India during the second COVID wave showed me how much the business depended on me being physically present. That pushed me toward systems and remote-first work.
In 2023 Tomaso and I decided to end the partnership and each build our own business, and to keep collaborating. I kept Businezz Club, which I later rebranded as 10x Marketing Lab; Tomaso built Triskell Ecosystem. We still help clients together today.
Alongside all this, in 2022 I restarted media work on the side (photo and video for businesses), the creative side I had never really let go of. Today it lives on in two ways: in the content and creatives I make for the campaigns I run, and in Frames by Cian, the side project born from my love for visual storytelling.
I also completed a dual MBA and Master's in Digital Marketing & E-commerce at ENEB. I don't believe degrees prove talent, but I wanted my education to match the work I actually do.
Along the way I've worked with 100+ businesses in 11 countries, from local shops in Italy to creators and organisations like Dan Mace and Beast Philanthropy. I've also made peace with money: I earn through my work and invest steadily through SIPs instead of chasing trades.
Today: building what I believe in
Everything I've lived through (the shop counter, the ranked websites, the failed startup, the rebuild) points to the same place. Marketing works when it's clear, focused and built as one system, not a pile of tactics.
That's what I'm building now:
- 10x Marketing Lab: we diagnose, fix and scale a business's marketing funnel, to drive visibility, customers and repeat sales.
- Frames by Cian: my side project, born from my love for visual storytelling — places, people and the small moments around them. It grew out of the media work I restarted on the side in 2022.
- EuroPortal.in (co-founder & host): the newest thing I'm building, just getting started — for Indians exploring study, work and life in Europe.
I call it the feel-good way of doing business: small, focused teams, work I choose, clients I'm proud to work with. I try to live the same way, slowly and mindfully.
If you're building something — a business, a project, or a story worth telling — write to me. I read every message myself.
Thank you for reading, and for being part of the journey.
— Cian
