iubenda celebrated its 15th anniversary on February 21, 2026. To mark the occasion, we’re sharing the story of how we got here. Spoiler: timing worked wonders. But don’t get us wrong. iubenda’s founder and the team weren’t lucky. Lucky is winning the lottery. There was an opportunity, and they seized it.

Fifteen years is a long time to build anything. It’s long enough to learn what works, what doesn’t, and what you wish someone had told you at the start.

We caught up with Andrea Giannangelo, iubenda’s founder, to talk about the journey: the moments that shaped the company, the advice he’d give his 2011 self, and the lessons that might help anyone starting out today.

A success story like you’ve seen before

You might think iubenda is just another startup success story. We won’t argue.

It follows the usual ingredients that decades of research have shown: that success is less about genius and more about timing, opportunity, and relentless consistency. Let’s take a look.

The bold idea

Andrea Giannangelo had just graduated from law school when he ran into the problem that would shape the next 10 years of his life.

He had a website. Getting it legally sorted was complicated, expensive, and slow. The only options were custom legal services that most small businesses couldn’t afford, or generic templates that didn’t really fit. So he built something better.

In 2011, online privacy was nearly non-existent. Social media had become the dominant force online, and the prevailing mindset was to connect and share, not to protect personal data.

Betting on privacy felt contrarian. When asked what he got surprisingly right, Andrea recalls: “That 15 years ago, privacy was going to be a thing.” But being right early isn’t always comfortable.

The tough start

The early days weren’t glamorous. “We applied to every single accelerator out there, sometimes multiple times. And nobody took us, nobody could see it really.”

Investors did eventually come knocking, but the terms on offer were bad. Andrea also felt like the market wasn’t ready yet, and so he turned them down. He kept building.

Things were hard. Growth was slow. Revenue wasn’t enough. “I really didn’t know if we were going to make it.”

Seizing the opportunity

Slow growth and rejection were tough. But they kept iubenda independent and ready for the right shift in the market.

In 2014, the Italian data protection authority (the Garante) was preparing detailed cookie guidelines enforcing the ePrivacy directive, or Cookie Law.

Rather than hand down rules from above, the Garante set up a roundtable with the main industry stakeholders like publishers and trade bodies, including the IAB.

The IAB brought in Andrea to advise on the technical side. His background spanning law, commercial practice, and the technical realities of cookies made him the rare person who could speak all three languages at once.

That working group helped shape the guidelines that would define how cookie consent worked in Italy.

In the right place at the right time

Enforcement followed in 2015. Then the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) arrived in 2018. Privacy stopped being a niche concern and became front-page news across Europe.

“I went from being nobody to literally having my phone jammed by all the large companies and publishers that wanted to get our product.”

Even though a chaotic moment, it was all happening now: preparation had met opportunity. “That changed everything. A few years later, we did 5x in revenue.” That combination of discipline and tenacity, repeated over years, is what got iubenda where it is today.

Asked how it feels to reach that milestone, Andrea’s answer is honest: “Completely unlikely.”

Founder to founder: 15 lessons from 15 years

Andrea also shared some simpler wisdom, like prioritizing sleep (seriously, he mentioned it twice).

But here are 15 pieces of advice for founders to celebrate 15 years of iubenda. And if you’re just starting out, we hope compliance is on your checklist. If not, well, you know where to find us.

Timing is everything

When asked what he’d tell his 2011 self, Andrea doesn’t hesitate: “Timing, it’s all about timing.”

You can have the right product, the right team, the right strategy. But if the market isn’t ready, none of it matters. iubenda bet on privacy in 2011, before privacy was mainstream with the Cookie Law in 2014, or even bigger, GDPR in 2018.

The bet paid off, and timing eventually caught up. But timing alone isn’t enough. You have to be ready to ride the wave when it comes.

Looking back, Andrea is still surprised: “I think that was one of those moments of clarity that I really look back to and think, how could I have such certainties?”

Protect your time to think

“If you are too busy, you’re compromising the time that you dedicate to thinking, and your capability to think is everything.”

There’s a myth that founders need to overwork themselves to succeed. Andrea disagrees. Busyness can be the enemy of clarity, and trying to do everything yourself only makes it worse.

Stay focused, even when nobody believes in you

“At the beginning, as nobody could see it, everyone was telling us to try and do other things, and I stayed on the same product, privacy, and ultimately that paid off.”

When things aren’t working, the temptation is to pivot, diversify, try something new. Sometimes the right move is to stay the course.

Consistency is underrated

Andrea’s secret superpower? “The combination of discipline and obstination.” One of his favorite quotes: “The more I train, the luckier I get.” Luck isn’t random. It’s what happens when preparation meets opportunity, over and over again.

You don’t need a stroke of genius

The myth of the visionary founder is just that: a myth. What looks like genius is usually persistence compounded over time.

Aim for top three, not top one

“It’s never about being the top one. It’s about consistently being in the top three.”

Sustainable success isn’t about being the best once. It’s about being consistently good over time.

Not everyone will grow with you

“As you grow, not all of your team will be able to grow with you and you’ll need to make some more choices there.”

This is one of the hardest lessons in leadership. The people who helped you start may not be the people who help you scale. Recognizing that, and acting on it, is painful but necessary.

Keep asking yourself what matters most

That’s Andrea’s go-to productivity trick: “What is the most important thing that I have to do right now? Literally over and over.” Relentless prioritization.

Customers will keep you going

During the hardest moment, when Andrea almost gave up, what kept him going? “The customers, speaking with them and getting their feedback. That was everything for me in that moment.”

When you’re lost, talk to customers. They’ll remind you why you started.

Funding is a means, not a goal

“Funding is not a goal. The goal is building a company. Have funding as a means. It comes with a lot of trade-offs and compromises that I think founders underestimate.”

The startup world celebrates fundraising like it’s the finish line. It’s not. Sometimes the best decision is to say no to funding and keep building on your own terms.

Learn to let go of perfection

You can’t scale if you need everything done your way. To delegate, you need to be ready to compromise on perfection and let it go.

Simplicity wins

What have customers taught him? One word: “Simplicity.”

It’s easy to overcomplicate. The best products, the best communication, the best decisions tend to be simple.

Own your mistakes

If Andrea could delete one moment from the journey? “None of it. Own it. Own your mistakes. Own the bad ones.”

The bad moments are part of the story. They’re what make the good ones meaningful.

Prioritize learning over reward

Short-term wins feel good. Long-term learning compounds. Choose accordingly.

Not everyone makes it

“What keeps you humble? The many founder friends that were great and didn’t make it.”

Not every great founder succeeds. Sometimes the timing doesn’t align, sometimes the market shifts, sometimes it just doesn’t work out.

Looking forward

Fifteen years in, we’re grateful. Grateful for our customers and the team that made it all possible.

Things move fast. Opportunities don’t wait. Andrea knew that in 2011. It’s still how we build today.

If you’re starting something now, we hope a few of these lessons land, or remind you why you started. And when you need a privacy compliance tool, we’ll be here.