E140 - Billionaires Brutal Lessons On Wealth, Discipline & Building From Nothing

May 11, 2026

Gediminas Ziemelis, Lithuanian entrepreneur who built a global aviation group after starting businesses at 19. He recalls growing up in Soviet scarcity and seizing privatization opportunities. Conversation covers risking everything to build big, turning bankruptcy into a listing, building aviation infrastructure, hands-on leadership vs delegation, and investing in AI, space and relationships over marketing.

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ADVICE

Raise Money With A Turnaround Plan

When seeking investors, present a turnaround and growth plan, not just requests to cover liabilities.
Gediminas prioritises showing product development, market strategy and where new funds will be deployed.

INSIGHT

Sales Drive Recovery And Asset Value

Sales growth is the core way to raise asset value during crises.
Gediminas scaled Avia Solution Group revenues ~20x after raising €18M and focusing on customers globally.

ADVICE

Scale Publicly To Fund Global M&A

Build scale and go public to fund M&A and buy inefficiencies in seasonal aviation markets.
Gediminas targets full supply-chain leasing, buying grounded capacity and growing across six continents.

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Gediminas Ziemelis is Lithuania's wealthiest entrepreneur, who started his first business at 19, and this conversation reveals what separates founders from managers, why treating business like a three-life computer game keeps him motivated, and how being born in a small country forced him to think globally from day one.

Gediminas explains growing up in the Soviet Union where businessmen were criminals, how poverty and limitation shaped his drive to be rich, and why selling his first company at 27 pushed him toward building something unrepeatable in aviation. The key insight: work-life balance doesn't exist when building something big; your lifestyle becomes the business, and you risk everything while managers sell hours for the highest price with no social life at stake.

This covers why he has four assistants but stays hands-on daily, how spending money on relationships beats marketing, and why the only thing he fears is losing motivation.

00:00 Gediminas Ziemelis Introduction
04:47 Early business endeavours in post-Soviet Lithuania
10:19 Importance of international business for Lithuanian entrepreneurs
15:28 First IPO and stepping into diverse business sectors
20:30 Entering aviation amidst challenges and opportunities
26:46 Overcoming financial crises in business
34:25 Global thinking and expanding aviation business
43:54 Dedication to Avia Solution Group and future plans
47:54 Passion and motivation in business pursuits
54:18 Importance of networking and relationships in business
59:53 Expanding interests beyond aviation, including AI and numbers
01:05:09 Space industry insights and potential future ventures
01:10:19 Reflections on health, AI, and personal discipline
01:14:36 Final advice for aspiring entrepreneurs on collaboration and planning

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» Follow Gediminas
YouTube: youtube.com/gediminasziemelis-official
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gediminasziemelis