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 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 in the early days is more about the founder than the pitch deck.
- How a non-technical founder can successfully build and ship an AI SaaS product.
- How an ultra-marathon mindset and micro goals can help survive startup chaos.
- Why culture and knowledge sharing often break when scale-ups grow fast.
Key discussion topics
- Ludmila’s journey from architect in Brazil to 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.
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 and went on to found 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.
Follow Ludmila Milla on LinkedIn
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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.
