Ilias Contreas bootstrapped Mixology Academy from a garage in Rome into the leading bartending training school in Italy. €4 million in annual revenue, 10,000 students, half the Italian market. Then he moved to Costa Rica, kept the business growing at startup speed from 10,000 kilometers away, and by every external measure was living the dream. And then one morning he opened his email and found a letter. After 18 years, he had lost control of the company he founded.
In this episode, Ilias and I go into what it actually feels like to build a life you designed and then discover the thing that funds it is no longer yours to decide on.
We talk about the 100-hour weeks in the beginning and what was really driving him back then, why he chose Costa Rica for a month and never left, the stimuli he was missing while the business was growing 43% a year without him in the building, and why after the shock of the lockout his dominant feeling was relief.
We also get into how his sense of purpose shifted from being the face of an industry to being useful without being indispensable, why he started building again within six months even though he didn't need to, and what he's chasing now that money is no longer the goal.
If you've ever built the dream and wondered what comes after because something was missing, this one's for you.
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(01:35) The son of a doctor who wanted to be a writer
(03:06) Why he went to London at 20
(05:37) His first 18 minutes behind a bar
(07:04) The 100-hour weeks he doesn't wish on anyone
(10:32) Working 24 hours straight without knowing why
(14:28) The garage where Mixology Academy started
(17:34) Why entrepreneurs aren't heroes in Italy
(19:53) The moment he burned out
(20:23) One month in Costa Rica, and never the same
(26:08) Eight days after moving, the pandemic hit
(27:41) Turning a physical school into a virtual one overnight
(30:24) What €4M did to how he saw himself
(31:03) Ragione sociale: what a company owes the community
(34:00) The stimuli he was missing while living the dream
(36:42) When the purpose stopped matching the work
(38:12) The morning he couldn't log in
(41:04) Why he was relieved before he was angry
(42:14) Selling his shares, and starting over in six months
(45:10) What he's chasing now that money isn't the goal
(47:38) The one thing he would do differently
Show notes:
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