5 Questions For Founders with Barry Stamos

Conscious Capitalism and Creating from Your Heart

I co-founded 1heart with my best friend, Brandon Evans. He and I are both second time founders. He started successful companies in New York. I started mine in San Francisco. After his first exit, he spun up another that was “crushing it”. When his investors wanted him to keep raise tens of millions more, he came to the realization that he was unhappy. He left the company and wrote an article on Medium called “Lost on Purpose” sharing his realizations; that he was successful by all definitions — and by society’s standards achieve the American Dream — and yet faced the reality he was not fulfilled.

We both realized that we didn’t want to do anything anymore that didn’t feel like it was coming from the heart. So we started questioning: What would it look like if we birthed a company from that spirit, with that intention? What would it look like if we backed founders who are operating from the heart? Ideas that would do good?

We founded 1heart as a startup studio and launched three companies that year with those intentions. One was called, “1heart Journeys”. It really wasn’t meant to make any money; it was only intended for us to be “in the practice” and never forget what it means to be close to our hearts and in service to others. Unexpectedly, it just took off, and it’s been the greatest dream I’ve birthed into reality — other than my two boys.

What motivates me is being a catalyst for change — going beyond the status quo to play infinite games really lights me up. Recently, what’s been lighting me up is waking the world up to explore higher levels of consciousness. I’ve been an advisor and interim CMO for Retreat Guru, the world’s largest SaaS and marketplace for authentic wellness retreats. Retreat.guru makes it easier to find and book epic yoga, meditation, psychedelic and plant medicine retreats. We also level-up the integrity, transparency and accountability between centers, teachers, shamans and participants. More people are now trusting and traveling the inner space. It’s genuinely transforming lives.

I get a lot of inspiration from universal laws, hence my interest in the duality of wakefulness and sleep. Sleep is sacred and in 2021 we are only beginning to discover it’s many mysteries in how it heals and regenerates minds and bodies. I’m an Advisor and interim CMO for Sleep Space where we are applying advanced science to study how changes in day and night behaviors and conditions can optimize results. As the Founding Advisor to TN.com (merged with Serta Simmons Bedding), I realized how many people needlessly suffer sleeping and how sleep patterns correlate to signal most common and chronic diseases. World peace begins with a good night’s rest.

I also have very powerful visions about what happens with technology as we reach singularity. I’m passionate about the AI space and how we can consciously retain our humanity with integrity as we ultimately become one with technology. This is also why I’m committed as a philanthropist to the rainforests, and supporting indigenous communities. Recognizing nature’s unbelievable magic and treasure is a universal key to realizing the full potential of the future reality I wish to see. Every acre that we burn for something like palm oil, prevents us from ever realizing the potential of our union with so many species and what they add to our day-to-day reality.

These are just some things I’m excited about these days and am putting my heart, energy, and networking into. It is all about what mindset is necessary or critical as a founder to generate a high-impact mission. I matter. We matter. Our time is now.

Believe in yourself and if you’re missing a talent, find it. You could find an advisor, attract a new hire — there’s lots of ways to address any gap and deal with it early. To do this, your way of being matters. If you’re constantly in a state of fear and scarcity, that’s not going to materialize into much. The opposite of this is choosing love. When you are operating with love, you are recognizing the talents in others that you are calling in for yourself and the future you are creating. Believing in yourself means having an inner knowing that “light attracts light” and I believe this truly opens doors.

People will want to work with you because they’ll know that you love what you do. They’ll know that you love and believe in your product. They’ll know that you love your employees and treat your customers with love. That is what births so much goodness. If you’re not feeling that frequency, you have to check in with yourself and do some work. If you’re still not feeling it, there’s probably something else you should be doing. There’s a common tenant that says “you can’t be in fear and in love at the same time”. So, if you have to choose, choose the L word.

The quickest way to drop into that frequency for me has been through gratitude. Gratitude is one of the highest vibrations of love. What are you grateful for? Why are you doing what you’re doing? These are the questions you need to be asking to check back in on yourself. As a founder, we don’t celebrate stuff. It’s always about getting to the next and the next — but we need to stop and celebrate the small stuff. Listen when people write you incredible reviews about your company. We are always obsessed with what others don’t like, and while that’s important, you need to celebrate the good stuff you do and give homage to the people on your team that are sharing the dream with you.

Finding the dream is about first finding your why. It could be told in a vision or shared as a mission — it’s what’s going to ultimately attract people to work with you and for you. It is about creating your dream and how that will ultimately attract the initial capital that comes in. It is what will be the beacon of light for people to find you and come in to initially support you as early customers. People support companies that have a higher purpose, that do more than just sell a product or a service. In today’s society, there are so many products and services that are temporary, instant gratifications. Founders need to think “I want to create a product that lifts my spirit and soothes my soul”.

I have a few things that have really helped me along the way. I can get completely consumed by my reality and my work, things pile up and I want to just get through them. I get in this zone where I can crank out content and get really productive, but if I don’t take the time to step into nature and detox from the digital world, I am a fraction of myself. For me, any opportunity I have to connect with nature is a game changer. People, if you allow them, can also help you center. I’m blessed to be surrounded by all these incredible practitioners who all share their gifts every day. My dad also gives me great advice. He’s grounded. He’s generous. His way of being and his example embodies so many teachings.

I am also blessed with two boys that even when I’m not ready to detach from work will just jump up in my lap or tug me and be like daddy, dinner time. They are a wonderful, healthy distraction to remind me of what’s important in my life. I would be remiss not to acknowledge my life partner, Christine. She can read my aura and see my energy and just knows how I am feeling. Interacting with my family provides me with wonderful ways that I get to reconnect and pause. Pausing is the key. Pause to be present.

The people around you and the gifts, genius and beauty that they bring to your life is one of the most important things that we can create and be grateful for. When I allow the people around me to be seen, I’m a reflection of them like a prism. I think of a prism as a beautiful visual when I’m in my meditative states that is really helpful for me. There’s a saying along these lines that we share at 1heart, ‘I am you. You are me. We are one. We are one heart.’ When I stopped focusing on the differences between us and the judgments, that was when I started to really connect with people, plants, animals, and to the world around me. It comes down to the feeling of oneness as opposed to a feeling of separation. That has been the greatest gift of my life and I want to share that with the world. This divine love is everybody’s birthright and it’s accessible anytime simply through your free will.

Capitalism is a powerful force in the world that is constantly transforming lives. Being a conscious capitalist for me is about dropping into the intention of what I’m creating and to choosing decisions that cause good deeds. Founders are unbelievably majestic manifestors. We either choose to birth things consciously that can do good things for society, or we can create crap that the world doesn’t need. I’ve seen lots of companies doing incredible things but the choices they’re making daily in the boardroom aren’t always in the highest for the individuals that are in service to that mission or the animals and the planet, which are what is important in the bigger picture.

I wasn’t born as a conscious capitalist. I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania where friendships were gold. My family valued love and nature above all else. I moved to New York for college and fell in love with materialism. The clothes I wore, what car I drove and my social status mattered to me. I really wanted to make money because I didn’t come from money. That’s what drove me into initially to start a company. Then I had an exit and became a self-made multimillionaire, but I really wasn’t feeling fulfilled. There was a part of me that just felt kind of empty. I couldn’t buy anything to fill that void!

I went all-in on self-love and personal growth. It was after this that my relationship with money changed. I saw it as an energy, a frequency. Money itself, just like technology, is a tool and it’s certainly not the root of all evil as some say. When you birth products or services infused with love, then what you love can love you back. You can attract incredible talent and or be wealthy. What I learned, and what made me a conscious capitalist is that money is just one payoff. The game I now play is multi-dimensional.

I lived the first half of my life really focused on a scorecard. The second half of my life I’m focused on my soulcard. It’s less about keeping score and more about doing things that make myself and others happy and that has been what’s really fulfilling. I feel like in today’s society, there are so many products and services that are temporary, they are just an instant gratification. I want something that fills my soul. Something that is deeply gratifying. I’m choosing these days to celebrate the miracle of mindfulness, especially in the small things that most overlook and yet over time can amass into a living masterpiece.

To dive even deeper into Barry’s founder journey, check out our podcast episode with her (and hosts Maria Sipka & Stacey Lawson), available on all major podcast platforms!

Find us on: Spotify, Apple Music, Google Podcast, Red Circle & Stitcher