(Ep 51) Inward -> Harnessing the power of breath 😮‍💨

Robbie Bent | Co-Founder & CEO

Jun 02, 2021

Hey friends,

Back again with another edition of The Founder recap - this is Episode 51. If you’re new here, my goal is to give you a quick synopsis of what got me thinking from this week’s episode of The Founder Podcast in 5 minutes or less.

No idea what The Founder is? Read this.

Mission control:

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Free money -> Discount codes
Learn -> Founder favorite resources
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And who am I?

I’m Kallaway - a future founder trying to get some answers before I jump in the ball pit myself.

Let’s get it.

This Week’s Episode (Ep 51) 😮‍💨

Guest -> Robbie Bent, Co-Founder & CEO of Inward

Mission -> Inward is on a mission to make breathwork more effective, beautiful and fun

Special Offer -> Get 25% off your Inward subscription by using code “Kallaway25” at checkout (inwardbreathwork.com)

Episode available on -> Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Website

In this episode we talk with Robbie about…

👶 The origin story of Inward

🔦 The power of a 10-day dark retreat in a cave

🚀 Working on the Ethereum network and the massive potential of crypto

🍄 Experimenting with psychedelics to unlock behavior change

😮‍💨 The science behind breathwork and how it works to reduce stress

💡 Brainstorm of the week -> Solving for loneliness through community, commune living and regenerative farming

🔍 Summary

What is Inward and how did Robbie get started?

Robbie is one of the most fascinating people I’ve had on the show thus far.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the different projects he’s worked on/roles he’s held:

Investment banking analyst
Telecom hardware startup founder
Renewable energy startup founder
Ethereum ecosystem development
Psychedelic medicine fund director
Breathwork startup founder

Safe to say, Robbie follows his passions, aims big and takes no prisoners when he’s going after something.

After an initial wave of failed hardware focused startup attempts, Robbie was exposed to psychedelic medicine. It changed his life.

He soon began to double down on mindfulness and saw meaningful changes in his mental health and happiness.

What started as a project to build an ice bath in his backyard, quickly became a community gathering spot to connect more deeply.

Inward is the manifestation of Robbie’s transformative mindfulness practice built for scale.

Positioned as the first on-demand platform for breathwork, Inward takes a 3 pillar approach across physical spaces, digital content and community.

Robbie and team are currently building out their flagship studio in Toronto to blend breathwork with a state of the art sound system for an unparalleled class-based experience.

In addition, they currently offer subscriptions to their massive library of on-demand guided breathwork sessions.

The entire offering is brought together with the glue of community, both in-person and virtually, as a way to bond and foster togetherness.

As a gift to our listeners, Robbie hooked us up with 25% off Inward memberships by using code Kallaway25 at checkout. I’m starting their program next week!

📍 Robbie’s Best Advice

“If you’re going into a new space, the best thing you can do is not think about money…think about access”

🤔 What Got Me Thinking From the Episode

After reflecting on my conversation with Robbie, here’s something that really got my wheels spinning:

Being willing to follow the breadcrumbs 👍🏽

The more I talk to startup founders and prepare for my own entrepreneurial journey (more on that coming soon), the more I realize the importance of founder-problem fit.

It seems obvious, but if you don’t genuinely love the space that you’re tackling, you won’t have staying power when the going gets tough.

I made this mistake during my first startup, when I chased “being a founder” vs solving a specific problem that I deeply connected with.

Within the first few minutes of interviewing Robbie, he mentioned that building Inward feels like his life’s work. He’s bought into the space, the product and the power that can come from a breathwork practice.

In many ways, everything he has done in his life up to this point was preparing him to tackle this challenge.

You may be thinking, “This is all pretty obvious…it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize that you should enjoy what you’re working on.”

And you’re right.

But what I’ve found to be the challenging part is creating the space to allow yourself to get to the “this is what I love doing” moment.

If you look at Robbie’s career path, he let himself follow the breadcrumbs of his curiosity.

First, he wanted to make as much money as possible and tried investment banking. He quickly burned out and realized it wasn’t for him. Next, he saw the lucrative opportunities that startup founders were chasing in the early 2010s and built two of his own in the hardware space.

He said that at 30, after a couple of startup failures, he was broke and felt behind many of his peers he went to school with. At this point, most people would have stopped following their interests, take a less risky bet and look for a corporate job.

He didn’t.

Next, he discovered Ethereum, was fascinated by the potential that crypto could bring and poured himself into that world. Along the way he discovered psychedelics, meditation and ultimately breathwork.

The point is that he let himself go down various rabbit holes. He didn’t care about wasting money or time, he prioritized new learning, access and rewarding his curiosity.

All of those “failures” that look like dead ends from the outside were actually preparing him for Inward. Investment banking gave him the core fundamentals for how to value a business as an investor. His startups, Roamly and INVI Energy, taught him how to build teams and launch product. His experience with Ethereum taught him the importance of community and how to transmit knowledge between members in a group. His exposure to psychedelics helped him fall in love with breathwork and mindfulness as a medium for behavior change.

To be fair, it’s much easier to connect the dots in hindsight. I’m sure Robbie would be the first to tell you that he wasn’t making these moves in order to build each respective competency and skillset. In the moment, those failures stung, but he allowed himself to follow the breadcrumbs to an even bigger prize.

Let yourself follow the breadcrumbs.

Wrapping it Up 📕

I hope you found this interesting and inspiring! If so and you want to help support our journey to bring The Founder to millions of people across the world, here’s a couple things that would be really valuable to me and the show:

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Till next time ✌️

Kallaway