Francesco Vitali: The Man Who Turned Friendship into CashAnd Made the World Listen Again

They say the next big thing after social media isn’t another platform — it’s a correction.
Francesco Vitali, CEO and Co-Founder of Rent A Cyber Friend, didn’t just build an app; he built a global movement that transforms human presence into value.

Fresh off his appearance at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, where his company was selected among the Top 200 startups in the world, Vitali sits down with The Hollywood Magazine to discuss how he’s turning empathy into enterprise — and reminding technology who it was meant to serve: people.

From Hollywood to Human Connection

I meet Francesco Vitali at The Peninsula Beverly Hills — a fitting choice for someone who blends elegance with innovation.
“I used to stay at The Beverly Hills Hotel,” he says with a smile. “But it started feeling like a museum of its own legends.”

Dressed in black, calm yet commanding, Vitali exudes the quiet confidence of a man who’s learned that influence doesn’t need volume. Once the unseen hand behind Hollywood’s most polished success stories, today he’s a leader of a different kind — one teaching the digital world how to feel again.

Red Carpets, Algorithms, and the Bridge Between

When asked what made him move from entertainment to technology, Vitali doesn’t hesitate:
“I never really left either world — I just found the bridge between them,” he says. “Hollywood taught me how to tell a story. Technology taught me how to make that story accessible to everyone. Rent A Cyber Friend isn’t a tech project — it’s a global stage where millions connect through one simple act: presence.”

The Human Connection Economy

For Vitali, this idea isn’t abstract — it’s deeply personal.
“I built my entire career around understanding people — their emotions, their contradictions, their need to be seen. But the digital world made everyone visible and invisible at the same time,” he explains. “So we built something that reverses that: a place where your attention, your time, your voice — have value again. You don’t need to perform. You just need to show up.”

AI Should Serve Emotion, Not Replace It

While the world debates AI’s role in replacing human interaction, Vitali has a clear stance:
“I believe AI should serve emotion, not imitate it. We taught machines how to think, but somewhere we forgot how to feel. Rent A Cyber Friend is the correction to that mistake. We’re not building technology to replace people — we’re building it to remind us why people matter.”

Democratizing Visibility

Having worked with some of the most recognizable names in Hollywood, Vitali knows fame doesn’t equal connection.
“I’ve been around the most photographed faces in the world — and some of them were the loneliest people I’ve ever met,” he says. “Everyone deserves to be seen, not just those with a publicist. Rent A Cyber Friend gives that stage to everyone — and you don’t need a million followers to earn from being human.”

The Power of Partnership

Vitali laughs when asked about his co-founder, Chris Siametis.
“Yes, we argued for years about the idea! Chris had the vision long before video communication became a daily habit. He believed in a platform where anyone could instantly start a secure video call with another human being anywhere in the world. At first, I thought it was too bold — maybe impossible. But Chris has a gift for seeing the future before it arrives. Eventually, he convinced me, and everything moved fast from there.”

Scaling With Humanity

With great innovation comes great responsibility — something Vitali takes seriously.
“We’re handling people’s emotions, their stories, sometimes their loneliness — that’s sacred ground,” he says. “That’s why safety is our foundation: advanced authentication, encrypted calls, and clear boundaries. You can’t build a human economy without protecting the humans in it.”

Looking ahead, Rent A Cyber Friend is expanding globally with Cyber Friend PRO and launching Safe Space categories designed for deeper emotional well-being.
“We’re scaling,” he adds, “but we’ll never scale away from humanity.”

The Last Word

Before leaving the Peninsula, Vitali stops to greet a hotel staff member by name — a gesture as genuine as his message.
“Don’t underestimate kindness,” he says. “It’s the rarest form of power left. Technology can give us a thousand tools, but only humanity can give them purpose.”

In a world chasing algorithms, Francesco Vitali still believes in people — and that might just make him the most modern man in Hollywood.

Join the movement: www.RentACyberFriend.com