Starting a Company? Founder Explains What You're Actually Getting Into (It's Hard!) - Ludmila Milla скачать в хорошем качестве

Starting a Company? Founder Explains What You're Actually Getting Into (It's Hard!) - Ludmila Milla

In this episode of Business Unbound, serial entrepreneur and ultra marathon runner Ludmila Milla shares the unfiltered reality of starting and scaling a company when there truly is no Plan B. From leaving a stable career in Brazil, selling everything, and restarting from zero in the UK, to building an AI powered learning platform without a technical background, she explains what founders are really signing up for. You will hear the hard truth behind fundraising, bias in venture capital, and how to turn long, messy journeys into resilient, sustainable success. If you are thinking about founding a company or are stuck in the “valley of death,” this conversation shows you how to keep moving when quitting feels like the easier choice. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 ◼️ How to assess your real risk tolerance before becoming a founder ◼️ Why fundraising is more about the founder than the pitch deck in the early days ◼️ How a non-technical founder can successfully build and ship an AI SaaS product ◼️ How to use ultra-marathon mindset and micro goals to survive startup chaos ◼️ Why culture and knowledge sharing often break when scale ups grow fast 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐬 ◼️ Ludmila’s journey from an architect in Brazil to a serial entrepreneur and AI founder ◼️ Selling everything, moving abroad, and rebuilding life and career from scratch ◼️ The brutal realities of pre-seed fundraising and why big rounds do not equal success ◼️ Female founder challenges and why even female-focused funds can be hard to access ◼️ Building product market fit, killing features early, and avoiding overbuilding ◼️ Using AI to capture tribal knowledge and turn it into scalable training ◼️ How to think about resilience, money, and lifestyle when there is no Plan B 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐌𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 00:00 Opening 00:54 Introduction 03:14 Why Business Unbound needs your support 04:23 Ultra marathons, parenting, and startup life 08:24 Ludmila’s Background 13:57 Jumping off the cliff twice, leaving Brazil and starting over 24:40 Why an Executive MBA at Oxford and the first spark for UJJI AI 26:39 From idea to Oxford incubator and first funding 31:29 Surviving the valley of death and early pre-seed rounds 37:27 The emotional cost of fundraising and bias toward female founders 46:52 Mistakes in fundraising and overspending on the wrong product bets 49:32 Product market fit, scrapping projects, and testing faster 51:28 Building an AI SaaS as a non-technical founder 56:46 Hiring engineers and choosing the right first technical partners 1:05:31 How UJJI uses AI for company learning and knowledge capture 1:15:33 UJJI vs generic copilots and why structured agents matter 1:18:45 Culture, scaling teams, and institutionalizing knowledge 1:20:24 Ultra-marathon mindset for founders and breaking big goals down 1:27:37 Advice for aspiring founders on risk, lifestyle, and not giving up 1:32:10 Books, collective intelligence, and what inspires Ludmila now 1:35:30 Final takeaway: never doing the wrong thing the right way 1:36:21 Outro 𝐆𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 Ludmila Milla is a serial entrepreneur, ultra-marathon runner, and mother of a young daughter. She began her career as an architect in Brazil, then founded a pioneering 3D modeling technology company for the construction industry, followed by a coaching business focused on people development. After selling her stake, she moved to Europe, started over in the UK, completed an Executive MBA at the University of Oxford, and co-founded UJJI AI, an AI-powered learning platform that helps scale-ups capture internal knowledge and turn it into practical, engaging training for their teams. ◼️ Ludmila Milla on Business Unbound: https://businessunbound.co/guest/ludm... ◼️Follow Ludmila Milla on LinkedIn:   / ludmila-milla-pmp   𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 Subscribe to the channel for more inspiring conversations. Follow us on social media: https://linktr.ee/businessunbound 𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 ◼️ UJJI AI https://www.ujji.io/ ◼️ The History of Money: A Story of Humanity: https://www.amazon.com/History-Money-... ◼️ More about this conversation https://businessunbound.co/episode/ep... 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐔𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 Every week, your host, Florian Haufe, dives deep into conversations with visionary global leaders to bring you insights, inspiration, and the real stories behind success. Connect with Florian on LinkedIn:   / florian-haufe-751363135   #Entrepreneurship #StartupLife #FoundersJourney #FemaleFounders #AIinBusiness #SaaSStartup #LeadershipDevelopment #ScaleUpCulture #UltramarathonMindset #BusinessUnbound