5 Questions For Founders with Diego Saez Gil
A Journey towards Connecting to A Higher Self
After celebrating the acquisition of my first startup I suddenly felt incredibly depressed. As a founder, the ups and downs of your startups end up defining your self-esteem. During my first startup, I felt confused because the company I created defined my ego. To get beyond that, I started a second company, which wasn’t the answer.
The acquisition of my second company, Bluesmart, was an even bigger challenge. Bluesmart was very successful, but our smart luggage started being banned by the airlines because the product contained lithium-ion batteries. We had to sell the company and lay off some people. It was a difficult situation as a founder.
I experienced burnout after that, but it allowed me time to reflect. If I hadn’t had that experience, I wouldn’t have done the personal work that was required to move on.
The answer to my original confusion after my first startup is what I did after my second company. To really go inside and inquire who I am. I’m not Diego the entrepreneur. I’m not my companies. I am “pachamama” — a member of a larger community of interconnected life. I identify with that. I want to contribute to that.
I wish I knew we needed more spaces for vulnerability and truth. There are so many spaces of networking — everyone’s talking about how they’re killing it in Silicon Valley. Everyone’s constantly pitching about how great they’re doing. That’s good — I’m not saying that’s bad — but we need spaces in which we can talk about our failures, doubts, and inner journeys — about the heart. And we can use a different language as founders, speaking to one another.
Today I am committed to becoming a better leader, a conscious leader. That’s about bringing the best out of your teams and creating spaces in which people can flourish. It’s about learning to be present.
I used to focus on being successful, trying to make money, trying to improve my condition. In reality, we’re part of something larger than ourselves. We’re part of the community of life. What drives me to keep building companies now is not becoming more successful or more famous, it’s about contributing to the flourishing of the whole.
I learned to identify myself with the larger purpose of what I’m a part of. I learned that when you align yourself with this, you’re happier and have more sustainable motivation because you’re working for something bigger than yourself. Things flow more easily.
Every founder must have the mindset for sharing and learning — especially from other founders. Human relationships are so hard in general. When you put them into the craziness of building and sustaining a company, it becomes even more difficult.
Founders are a force of nature. The planet needs leaders and innovators who can coalesce people around a dream. But we need to be in the best mindset possible to lead. And the way to that is through vulnerability, peer support, and spaces for self-exploration. Leaders have to introspect to find their true purpose and to lead from a place of higher self and not from ego.
One resource that’s helped me is engaging in daily meditation, even if it’s just five minutes. The exercise is just to close your eyes, sit down, and observe your thoughts/emotions as clouds that are passing through the sky.
Learning how to meditate completely changed my life. It changed my way of reacting to uncertainty. I wish someone had told me to meditate 10 years ago.
When we create this sense of separation from our thoughts and our emotions, we can quiet our minds and listen to the deeper inner voice — the “soul” as some people call it. From there, we can make better decisions and react appropriately.
To dive even deeper into Diego’s discovery of his place within the startup community, check out our podcast episode with him (and hosts Maria Sipka & Stacey Lawson), available on all major podcast platforms!
Find us on: Spotify, Apple Music, Google Podcast, Red Circle & Stitcher