September 2025
I've been building NeoSapien for over two years now. But here's what I've learned - the company you build is only as strong as the person you become while building it.
This isn't a "10 tips for startup success" blog. This is about the deeper transformation required when you're trying to build something that matters. It's about holding paradoxes, integrating opposites, and becoming someone capable of manifesting an ambitious vision.
The reality is, as a founder, you're asked to be two contradictory things simultaneously:
The Warrior: Intense execution, breaking barriers, conquering competition, shipping relentlessly
The King: Strategic vision, system building, team nurturing, long-term thinking
Most advice tells you to pick one. Be the technical founder or the business founder. Be aggressive or be thoughtful. The key insight here is - you need to be both, integrated into one coherent identity.
Marcus Aurelius didn't choose between being a philosopher or an emperor. He commanded legions by day and wrote meditations by night. Steve Jobs wasn't just a product visionary or a ruthless operator - he was both, which is what made Apple possible.
Here's the formula I've discovered for optimizing founder potential:
Let me break this down:
What's fascinating is the neuroscience behind this. Stanford research shows courage isn't just mindset - it's literally a trainable neural pathway. The nucleus reuniens acts as a "courage switch" in your brain. Every time you act despite fear, you strengthen this circuit. This is why consistency matters - you're rewiring your brain for greatness.
After making thousands of decisions building NeoSapien, I've developed a simple hierarchy:
Every decision filters through these layers:
Only then do I make the decision.
The neuroscience backs this up. Your ventromedial prefrontal cortex integrates emotional and rational data. People with vmPFC damage have high IQs but make terrible real-world decisions. The key insight? Feel first (gut instinct), think second (analysis), act third (commitment).
Building NeoSapien required different types of courage:
Physical Courage: 14-hour days, constant travel, pushing through exhaustion
Moral Courage: Saying no to easy money that would compromise our vision
Spiritual Courage: Believing we can build the conversation OS when everyone said it's impossible
Here's what I learned - courage compounds. Start with 2% outside your comfort zone, not 20%. For me, it was:
156 acts of courage per year. Your neural courage circuit becomes a superhighway.
The biggest misconception about intensity is that maximum effort equals maximum impact. The formula is actually:
This is crucial for sustainable building. I've learned to operate in four modes:
The key is knowing which mode to deploy when. You can't be in explosive mode constantly - that's how founders burn out in 6 months.
The traditional startup glory formula is:
Glory = Personal Achievement / Time
But this fades. What we're building at NeoSapien follows a different formula:
Transcendent Glory = (People Elevated × Depth of Impact)Time
This compounds forever.
Every time our device helps someone with ADHD capture their thoughts, every time a senior citizen preserves a memory they'd have lost, every time a professional captures insights that advance their career - that impact compounds.
This isn't altruism. It's physics. Systems that create value for others grow exponentially. Systems that extract value eventually collapse.
As founders, we face constant tradeoffs. But not everything is negotiable. I've learned to organize priorities in concentric circles:
The test: If success requires sacrificing the sacred, you're pursuing the wrong success.
Every strength has a shadow. The warrior's intensity can become destructive aggression. The king's vision can become tyrannical control. The key isn't eliminating these shadows - it's integrating them consciously.
For me:
The practice is simple: Notice the pattern, own it, understand what need it serves, then meet that need consciously.
Even with all the personal development, you can't build alone. You need your Round Table:
For NeoSapien, this includes advisors from Bain, serial entrepreneurs who've exited, technical leaders from FAANG, and yes, family members who keep me human.
Knowledge without practice is philosophy without power. Here's my daily integration:
After two years of building, these are the laws I've found immutable:
Building NeoSapien isn't just about creating the conversation OS. It's about becoming someone capable of manifesting that vision. Every decision shapes you. Every challenge refines you. Every victory and defeat teaches you.
The world needs the technology we're building - a bridge between human and AI intelligence that preserves privacy while unlocking potential. But more than that, it needs founders who build from a place of integration - warrior intensity with kingly wisdom, technical depth with human understanding, ambitious vision with grounded execution.
This is the path I'm walking. Not perfectly, but persistently. Because in the end, the company you build is just the external manifestation of who you become.
The throne awaits, but first, the battles.
The crown comes, but first, the courage.
The glory arrives, but first, the service.
Building NeoSapien. Building myself. Both journeys continue.