Most of the conversations I have on this podcast are about growth.
Scaling.
Raising capital.
Winning in crowded categories.
This one isn’t. And that’s exactly why I love it.
I sat down with Ugo Urberti Foppa, founder of a retreat center in Portugal called Quinta Marugo.
On paper, Ugo’s not my typical guest. No big brand. No massive exit. No “how I scaled to $100M” story.
But the deeper we got into the conversation, the more it hit me. This is what so many founders say they want, but almost no one builds.
This Wasn’t an Exit Strategy. It Was a Life Decision.
Ugo didn’t set out to build a wellness brand.
He left Italy.
Worked in oil and gas.
Moved to Hong Kong.
Built a food business.
And then… decided he didn’t want that life anymore.
What he wanted was simple: A piece of land. A slower life.
Something that actually felt like his. So he built it.
This Business Is the Life
This is the part that stuck with me. Most founders separate the two: Build the business, then live. Hugo did the opposite.
He built a business that is the life. How inspiring is that?
That’s a very different model than what most people (me included) are chasing. And it raises a question worth asking:
Are you building something to eventually get out of…
or something you actually want to live in every day.
The Discipline Most Brands Don’t Have
There’s a moment in the conversation where he talks about decisions they made that most businesses wouldn’t.
No Wi-Fi in the rooms.
No air conditioning.
No push toward scale.
On paper, those might look like “bad business decisions.” They limit demand.
They turn people away. But they also did something more important:They made the experience real.
Because the goal was never to serve everyone.
It was to serve the right people. For the first 7 months after opening it was a tough go.
No customers, Bookings that canceled.
So what changed?
A few people came.
They loved it.
They told others.
Word of mouth took over.
It’s the least sexy growth strategy, and the one most brands say they want but don’t have the patience for.
The Part Most Founders Won’t Admit
There’s a moment where he talks about how hard it actually was.
Three years of building.
Costs doubling during COVID.
Constant problem-solving.
So I asked him: “If you knew how hard it would be… would you have done it?”
His answer: Probably not.
That’s the truth behind almost every business.
My Takeaway
There are a lot of ways to build something. You can scale fast. Raise money. Chase growth. Or you can build something that actually fits your life. Hugo chose the second. And it’s working. It made me wonder, though, could you do both? We spend a lot of time talking about how to grow. We don’t spend enough time asking:
What are we actually trying to build?
Not just the business. But also the life.
It’s a different kind of episode, but an important one. It’s worth a listen.
