The Entrepreneurs Awakening Podcast Season 1: Episode 4
Learn how this first time founder/CEO used vipassana and ayahuasca to help him raise $30 million and keep his ego in check on the way a big exit.
This first-time founder CEO accomplished what most set out to do, a successful exit 5 years after founding. What’s more unusual, he credits vipassana meditation and the mindful use of psychedelics as key factors in his success.
During his first ten-day Vipassana meditation retreat “Omi” experienced a profound awakening. This awakening gave him the courage to leave a successful corporate career and found his first tech startup.
A year later he secured one point five million in VC seed funding, and guess what he did next? Much to the surprise of his co-founder and investors, Omi left for another 10 day Vipassana meditation retreat.
The awakenings on his second retreat changed this first-time founder CEO’s view on leadership and company culture. That’s not an unusual result of deep insight. What’s unusual is that his unconventional decisions lead to a very successful exit just five years after the company was founded. He ended up raising over 30 million dollars, replacing himself as CEO, and selling for many times that amount.
In this interview, Omi will explain the role meditation, psychedelics, and maintaining a path of perpetual spiritual awakening played in his ability to win the startup game his first time out.
Because Omi has not participated in my ayahuasca mastermind program, I consider this a season 1 bonus episode. It’s just too good to wait for season two!
So let’s dive in.
Valuable Ayahuasca Insights Shared In This Episode.
0:00 – 9:09: Omi shares how he switched from being a corporate executive to tech startup founder and how a 10 day Vipassana retreat revealed that he could trust himself to make the leap.
9:09 – 17:40: We discuss a number of insights Omi received from his 10 hours a day meditation retreat. One of the most valuable was seeing clearly how all of his reactions arise from within him, not from the external stimulus he was blaming. Back in the office, observing this in real time enabled him to see more options and choose his response from a place of clarity rather than reactivity.
17:40 – 20:00: Omi talks about how meditation helped him resolve the intense pressure he felt as a first-time founder/CEO. He realized that the pressure was linked to the outcomes he wanted and the expectations he imagined that others had on him. When he focused his attention on the day at hand and not on the future or the expectations he imagined others had on him, the sense of pressure was greatly reduced.
20:00 24:23: Omi loses a VC investor who disagrees with his fundamental belief that putting your attention on the journey rather than the destination will lead to a better outcome for the company.
24:23 – 32:10: Omi talks about how to balance, and even combine, meditation and psychedelics for personal growth and awareness.
32:10 – 38:14: We explore a recurring challenge for entrepreneurs: how to prevent your ego from obscuring the path to success.
38:14 – 47:11: Omi explains the mental barrier that was limiting his effectiveness, why he chose to address it with ayahuasca rather than meditation.
47:11 – 51:17: Omi describes his intense ayahuasca experience, the awakenings it triggered, and how they compare to his meditation retreat experience.
51:17 – 58:26: We talk about how Omi’s awakening gave him insights that lead him to hire a CEO who was better suited for the role. He shares about the process that leads to the successful sale of the company.
58:26 – 1:11:00: Now free, Omi shares what he plans to do during his world traveling mindful non-doing sabbatical. Omi gives a life-changing book recommendation.
1:11:00 – 1:13:53: Final insights from our guest and podcast resources!
References
Next Steps
- Listen to these ayahuasca podcast episodes that showcase transformative experiences from our ayahuasca retreat and the prep & integration coaching we provide for founders.
- Learn more about Psychedelic-assisted Executive coaching
- Learn about our next Peruvian Amazon Ayahuasca Mastermind Program