Dave Kashen quit his startup after it was acquired and spent 15 years coaching others to break limiting beliefs. He grew up playing therapist to his mother, chased high-status careers in banking and hedge funds, then realized he was running from a "not good enough" story that wasn't his.
I sort of played therapist to my mom growing up. So at some level, I think I always knew that this kind of role was right for me, but I didn't think it was good enough, not high status enough. So I became a banker and a hedge fund guy and built startups. At some point, I went through this course that had me recognize this story I had about myself not being good enough and how I was trying to prove my worth to everybody. And I let go of that story and created the possibility of living an authentic life. And then I started to realize, yeah, what's most authentic for me is I love helping other people thrive and recognizing the limiting beliefs that are in the way of them living their best lives. And as soon as I gave myself permission to follow that, it's been like the most incredible 15-year journey. I, uh, I ended up quitting the company that had acquired my startup and just went through a coach's training and immediately knew, like, these are my people and this is what I'm here to do.
