Download the essay:
What comes next:
This is only the beginning. In the months ahead, I’ll share:
Concrete tools, experiences and frameworks for founders and highly ambitious people – how I apply Lucid Living as a startup CEO.
Childhood and generational trauma – how even the most loving households pass on invisible “programs” that define how we go through life as adults.
The science-backed promise of psychedelics – why and how they may become a cornerstone of mental health treatment.
The role of faith and spirituality – what secular spiritual experiences taught me about the divine, and its potential contribution to the growing mental health epidemic.
The meaning crisis of the Western society — why we lack orientation, and how a virtue-based value system may help us re-connect with each other.
It means I don’t carry the arrogance of thinking I own the place, but I also don’t feel small or intimidated by those who might. I just move through life with ease — confident, grounded, and unaffected by who holds power or status around me.
When we first met and you shared your vision, it resonated deeply. I lost someone close to breast cancer, and I know the quiet around it, the way changes that look “firm” or “dark,” or simply like aging, can feel too unseemly to name. Working in this space, I also know how hard it is to raise funds when the work looks more like a mission to save lives than a blitzscaling startup. Founders can wonder, “Am I a good entrepreneur?” I’ll admit my first comment was just on your post, I planned to read the essay over the weekend and only just finished it. I’m grateful I did; it’s brave, honest, and important.
As someone who’s built a few companies, I felt this in my bones. Each startup brings the same anxiety and emotional intensity. You drift from the mission sometimes; you wonder if this path earns a few thousand more not millions and you still keep going, evolving, believing.
What made the difference for me wasn’t grit alone, it was my people.
I’ve been lucky to work with teammates (and, when they weren’t on my payroll, mentors) who cared more about my well-being than their quick money, and were married to the mission and cause not the optics. They held my feet to the ground when my ego wanted to sprint, and they pulled me to the surface when I was drowning. If I didn’t have them in my team, I had them as mentors and that saved me more than any term sheet ever did.
In the hardest stretches, I keep four beliefs close:
-> If you get what you want, that’s God's direction. If you don’t, that’s God's protection.
-> Not all lives carry the same loads, but every life is unique—you’re walking a path only you can fulfill.
-> Nothing you do—big or small—goes to waste. It teaches you and readies you for bigger things. You’re in the becoming.
-> Don’t walk the road as if you own it; walk as if it doesn’t matter who does.
Founders talk a lot about hiring for talent; I’ve learned to choose for character. Find the ones who will call you out, keep you humble, and still show up at 2 a.m. with a steady hand. Surround yourself with people who hold you and the mission above the noise. That’s how you build something that lasts.
Thank you for sharing this.