From Sahara Nights to Startup Lights: Raphael Chudaitov’s Most Daring Adventures

Before the platforms, before the patents, to democratize advertising or reimagined social media as a place for healing, Raphael Chudaitov was chasing something less tangible: the feeling of being fully alive.

That search has taken him across more than 135 countries, through deserts, mountaintops, war zones, and border crossings. It’s shaped not only his worldview, but his work, because for Raphael, risk is a teacher, and adventure is a form of education.

The Sahara at Seventeen

In 2007, long before he’d ever started a company, Raphael found himself driving a tiny rental car through the narrow roads of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. He was alone, until he wasn’t.

“I met this group of people Scottish travellers,” he says. “We ended up forming a caravan and going into the desert together.”

They rented seven camels. No internet. No cell service. Just five days of crossing the Sahara under starlight.

“We followed the stars, literally. It was the most human I’ve ever felt.”

That journey wasn’t just a travel story, it was a moment of awakening. Raphael didn’t go looking for safety. He went looking for something real. And that choice, over and over again, has shaped who he is.

A Stranger’s Belief in Florida

Not long after Morocco, Raphael bought a one-way ticket to Florida. No plan. No connections. Just an instinct.

There, he met Chaim Druin, a businessman who saw something in him. Within hours of meeting, Chaim offered him a job, one that would take Raphael to India.

“It didn’t work out long-term,” Raphael says. “I was too young, too inexperienced. But it changed everything. Just knowing someone believed in me like that.”

India would become one of the most transformative places he’d ever visit. He saw staggering poverty. But also joy. Community. Contentment.

“It broke every assumption I had about happiness. You don’t need what you think you need.”

Hustles, Failures, and Unlikely Wins

Raphael’s early travels weren’t all magic carpets and lucky breaks. He hustled. He made mistakes. He pushed boundaries, sometimes literally.

At 17, he managed to rent a car on his own in Costa Rica. The legal age was 21. But he kept asking, negotiating, finding loopholes.

“They finally said yes,” he says. “That car changed the entire trip. I ended up picking up stranded tourists and helping people along the way.”

He once got an airline to change the name on a non-transferable ticket, just because he kept pushing. He lived in hostels, slept on airport floors, and crossed borders without always knowing what was on the other side.

But these weren’t reckless moves. They were expressions of belief, belief that life rewards sincerity, that help arrives when your heart is open, and that the world, despite its dangers, is mostly good.

135 Countries and Counting

That childhood dream, of visiting every country on a globe he once pointed to in class, wasn’t a fantasy. It was a blueprint.

“They laughed at me when I said I’d go everywhere,” he recalls. “But I knew I would.”

Today, Raphael has been to 135 countries. He’s walked through markets in Thailand, hitchhiked through Central America, prayed in temples in Sri Lanka, and listened to jazz in Havana.

And in every place, he’s learned something about humanity that guides how he builds.

Intuition as a Compass

When asked how he decides what to pursue, whether a trip, a partnership, or a platform—his answer is consistent: intuition.

“I don’t focus too much on market research. I feel it out. If something feels right in my chest, I do it. If it doesn’t, I walk away.”

That approach has served him well, from choosing where to travel to deciding to create Docformative and Intuuv, or to build Robovolve without a traditional business model.

“It’s all the same,” he says. “You trust yourself or you don’t. You move or you freeze.”

A Life of Unfinished Maps

To most, Raphael’s adventures may sound improbable. To him, they’re just proof that belief, curiosity, and a little bit of courage can open any door.

“I’m still that same kid,” he says. “I just know now that the edge of what’s possible is much farther than we think.”

For Raphael Chudaitov, adventure isn’t a phase. It’s the foundation. Every startup, every product, every idea comes from the same place: a wild, persistent hope that if you leap, something good will meet you on the other side.