# He Left Corporate With No Business Plan: Pellegrino Riccardi on HIS Second Curve

> Trailer of [Your Second Curve — the podcast](https://yoursecondcurve.com/podcast/), hosted by Dr Arnd Halbach. An interview-led podcast with Dr Arnd Halbach for people in the second half of their career going independent or starting a second career.

- Published: 13 October 2026
- Length: 39 sec
- Page: https://yoursecondcurve.com/podcast/episodes/he-left-corporate-with-no-business-plan-pellegrino-riccardi-6dc801b6/

**He Left Corporate With No Business Plan. 19 Years Later the Phone Still Hasn’t Stopped Ringing**

Arnd Halbach sits down with Pellegrino Riccardi, an award-winning TEDx speaker and cross-cultural expert who has spent close to four decades studying what makes people and organisations tick. In 2007, Pellegrino left a corporate career with no business plan and built a successful independent business around himself. He talks about the fear of the first year, why he never started a company, how he measures growth in ideas and quality rather than money, and why humans still have the edge in the age of AI. He closes with the advice he’d give anyone in their 40s or 50s thinking about making the leap.

**Stay tuned for the full episode**