As thoughts shift from festive celebrations to the promises of a new year, our team of 15 ambitious athletes is focused on getting in the best shape possible for the upcoming Ironman 70.3 in Hawaii.
The event encompasses 113 km of swimming, cycling, and running – all back-to-back, without a break. It’s a mammoth challenge, but more than that, it’s a live demonstration of our brand promise to make money flow more smoothly.
Just as our athletes will connect three disciplines into one seamless race, payabl. connects all the building blocks merchants need to run their business into a single, unified platform.
Ironman requires the same qualities – balance, consistency, adaptability, and recovery – that we apply to our work every day to help our clients succeed. It’s a memorable metaphor for how we run our business: steady momentum, calm control, and collective strength. And it will become proof that when complexity is navigated with clarity and confidence, performance flows.
In the build-up to May’s event, we’re profiling those taking part to discover more about what’s driving them, and how they’re balancing their professional lives with demanding training regimes.
Next to share their thoughts are Group CEO Ugne Buraciene, who conceived the idea of sharing this inclusive experience with her colleagues, and Chief Product Officer Breno Oliveira, who hopes Ironman will further sharpen his mental and physical health as he develops the company’s product strategy into exciting new directions.
Lighting the spark
Ugne first came across Ironman when supporting her husband at an event. “I was really surprised by how much fun it was for those involved, how much support everyone was getting, and the wide variety of people from different age groups – women and men all together,” she says.
The experience encouraged Ugne to get involved. “I saw an advert specifically for Ironman in Hawaii, looked at the race course, and decided if I’m going to be struggling, at least I’ll be struggling in one of the nicest places in the world,” she explains. “Running a business has taught me you don’t wait until you’re fully ready; you start, you commit, and you grow into the challenge.”
Once she’d set her mind on competing, Ugne was keen to get her colleagues on board – and Breno was one of the first to sign up. “It’s an amazing initiative that will enhance our fitness levels together as a team, and at the same time, we can discover what it truly takes to become an Ironman,” he says.
“Triathlon is a sport with three disciplines – but there’s a saying that there’s also a hidden discipline: nutrition. This is sometimes neglected, which is a huge mistake. The same applies to business; sometimes we’re so focused on the granular details of daily operations that we forget to look at the wider picture to find the additional elements that can boost our end results.”
Conquering complex challenges through consistency
Taking on Ironman requires considerable mental and physical strength. “When I make up my mind, nothing can turn me around,” says Ugne. “So I’m already there mentally.”
“Physically, it’s different – going from not having any real sports in my life to sometimes training two or three times a day. But as the months go by, it’s getting easier and the things I do already don’t seem so extreme.”
“The training regime is intense,” agrees Breno. “The load increases as we get closer to the race, but we’ll be fine.” He highlights the importance of brick workouts; multi-sport training that combines two disciplines back-to-back with minimal rest – most commonly a bike ride followed immediately by a run. This mimics race conditions and helps to prepare body and mind. “The more brick workouts you put in, the more mentally prepared you’ll be to fight your thoughts on race day.”
Both Ugne and Breno cite the importance of consistency. For Ugne, the idea of a 1.9 km swim in the Pacific Ocean is intimidating, but she believes endurance isn’t built on one big push; it’s built on showing up every single day and making progress step by step.
“If you take Ironman and you take how a business is run, there are certain things you have to do to prepare,” she explains. “In both, you face challenges that can seem overwhelming until you break them down. With Ironman, I started with the fact that I couldn’t swim very well and then figured out my training schedule and the time commitment required. And then it’s a case of showing up and doing it consistently, day in and day out. That also applies to business – you grind, and you have good days and sometimes you have bad days. But you wake up and do it all over again.”
Business, like Ironman, isn’t a sprint; it’s about sustaining performance over the long haul. This sentiment resonates strongly with Breno.
“Consistency is key,” he says. “You need to put in the hours, no matter how you feel and how the situations around you change. This is for sure the Ironman value that resonates most with me, and it will stay with me even after the race is finished.”
“Limits are rarely fixed; they’re often self-imposed,” adds Ugne. “By tackling something this daunting, I hope to remind myself and others that impossible goals can be achieved if you commit and stay consistent.”
Drawing inspiration from impressive careers
Breno started on his career path more than 15 years ago, working as an intern maintaining telecoms mainframes and Linux servers, before progressing into a business analyst position where he combined his passion for computers with learning about financial instruments.
He then spent a few years working with core banking systems, which sparked a craving to discover how he could build a system himself. “Fast forward to 2022, and I was approached by a recruiter with a position at payabl. to build exactly that, a new core banking system from scratch. Since I joined, I’ve had the pleasure of launching multiple products, working closely with several business partners and penetrating new markets.”
Breno’s role requires balance and the ability to juggle tasks, just like competing in Ironman. “I’m an engineer at heart and work every day for a moment I call ‘TWP’ – which stands for Totally Working Product,” he explains.
“This is when ideas become a functional product. Critical thinking and the ability to simplify difficult conversations are the required combination to do product work well; you’ll often find yourself in difficult situations where saying ‘no’ is the easy answer, so applying critical thinking in these moments is essential. You need to take people around you on a journey of discovery of products, experiences, and services that we can’t see yet but that we can create together to unleash different solutions for our clients.”
Ugne’s role is to set the overall direction and make sure the company is building the right things at the right time. This means aligning the leadership team, working closely with product and commercial teams, and removing obstacles so people can do their best work. She also touches on the importance of not simply taking the easy path.
“We stay very close to real merchant needs,” she says. “Decisions are grounded in practical payments experience, not assumptions. That shows in our products, our support, and the way we work as a team. There’s a strong focus on reliability, clarity, and doing things properly – even when that takes more effort.”
“I’ve spent my career building experiences across payments and financial services, learning how money moves in practice, not just in theory; payabl. was a natural step because it combines deep payments expertise with the opportunity to build a platform that genuinely helps businesses operate and grow.”
Providing a perfect platform
Breno believes payabl.’s culture is a perfect match for the demands of Ironman. “We have hungry and curious people,” he explains. “We never settle for good; we’re always improving what we do in the best way possible. Each department takes efficiency seriously, and balances that with a desire to stay hungry for new opportunities. That’s how we’ve grown our product portfolio so fast – the culture cultivates it.”
“We all come from different walks of life and have many experts across the company. We team up to solve real problems like no other – and the Ironman initiative proves my point!”
“It’s a culture of ownership and accountability,” adds Ugne. “People are hands-on, open to new challenges, and focused on outcomes rather than titles.”
Asked to succinctly summarise the Ironman experience, she says, “Transformative, but crazy! I’m blessed to be doing it with so many of my team members.”
“Brutal,” adds Breno.
Stay tuned for further updates as the team gets ready for Ironman 70.3 in Hawaii in May 2026.