$200 million valuation. Nasdaq bell ringing. National fame.

Episode 7 is now live!

$200 million valuation. Nasdaq bell ringing. National fame.

Then came the void no one warned me about.

Building DAVIDsTEA from a tiny shop to a public company was exhilarating.

The aftermath? Quietly devastating.

When you tie your identity to your company, the exit becomes more than financial—it's existential.

Who are you when the thing that defined you is gone?

The emotional cost of scaling quickly isn't in any business plan.

Neither is the strange emptiness that follows "making it."

Through Highbeam, I found a new chapter, but not before confronting the hardest question:

What matters beyond the money?

This conversation isn't about building a tea empire.

It's about what happens when the dream you chased actually comes true—and it's nothing like you imagined.

For founders in the trenches or on the other side of a win, this raw truth remains:

The work never ends. It just evolves.

Listen to the full conversation on Episode 7 of Founder2Founder, available now on all platforms.

DM us the word "founder" for us to send you the link.