The Next Mountain Podcast

Next Mountain
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  • Entrepreneurship

The Next Mountain Podcast brings you real, unfiltered conversations with exited founders, leaders, investors and expert who are redefining success in a quickly changing world. Hosted by the team behind Next Mountain, each episode explores what happens after the exit and how accomplished individuals can turn transitions into clarity, purpose, and impact. From achievement to alignment. From success to stewardship. From solo hustle to collective impact.

  1. May 21

    Natasha Freidus on Re-Imagining Business for Good

    Natasha Freidus calls herself an "accidental founder." While volunteering with refugees in France around 2015, she went looking for a simple tool to match needs with offers in real time, and when she couldn't find one, she used a wedding registry instead. That improvised fix became the proof of concept for Needslist, a software company that went on to match millions of dollars in aid through crises from Hurricane Dorian to the fall of Kabul to the war in Ukraine, before she exited on New Year's Eve, 2024. In this conversation, Tasha reimagines what business for good can actually look like. She's candid about the myths she was taught in accelerators (the unicorn model, the hockey stick), why impact investors often made her jump through ten times the hoops for a tenth of the money, and why she now tells early-stage founders not to lead with their impact when they raise. We talk about her move from global crisis tech to hyper-local, place-based economic development through her work with Shorefast and the Fogo Island Inn. We get into why caring for the places we live is less divisive than the language of "social impact," and the alternative ownership structures (co-ops, employee ownership, steward ownership) that could redistribute wealth instead of concentrating it. Learn more about Tasha Natasha Freidus on LinkedinThe Shorefast Institute for Place-Based Economics

    45 min

  2. May 12

    The Midas Loop: Colin Beavan on the Success Trap and the Art of Being Fully Alive

    Colin Beavan is an executive coach, writer, Zen teacher, and self-described "professional quitter." He spent years building a successful PR business in London, then walked away from it on a motorcycle trip he was terrified to take. He went on to write the bestselling No Impact Man, run a nonprofit, and now coaches founders, philanthropists, and leaders through the question that brought him to Zen practice in the first place: how do you actually live? In this episode, we discuss what Colin calls the Midas Loop, when success stops feeling alive. We chase one success, find the treasure chest empty, and assume we chased the wrong thing, so we chase again. Colin warns that meaning and purpose can become their own version of the loop. We talk about why the personality that built your success can become the cage you can't leave, how fantasies of escape are diagnostic rather than destination, and why becoming fully alive rarely requires changing your circumstances, but always requires changing your relationship with them. More about Colin Website: colinbeavan.comSubstack: colinbeavan.substack.com

    56 min

  3. May 6

    Building for a Better World: Jeffrey Hollender on Regenerative Business and Meaningful Exits

    Jeffrey Hollender spent 20 years building Seventh Generation into a $150 million pioneer of the sustainable products movement, a decade ahead of the market. Today he teaches social entrepreneurship at NYU Stern, sits on Morgan Stanley's Sustainability Advisory Board, and has just published his seventh book, Built for a Better World. In this episode, Jeffrey makes the case that most of what passes for impact today doesn't go far enough. Sustainability means doing less harm. Regeneration means actively repairing what's been damaged, and that's a much higher bar. We talk about the line between sustainable and regenerative business, the compromises every purpose-driven founder has to navigate (and the one place you never compromise), why systems thinking is non-negotiable, and why selling your company to your employees may be the most meaningful exit you can design. 🔗 Resources mentioned: Built for a Better World by Jeffrey Hollender → builtforabetterworld.comJeffrey Hollender's website → jeffreyhollender.comThe Big Myth by Naomi Oreskes and Erik ConwayBookshop.org (independent bookseller alternative to Amazon)The Giving Pledge & The Patriotic Millionaires

    50 min

  4. Apr 24

    From Bootstrapped Exit to Ikigai: Chris Erler on Freedom, Spirituality and AI

    Chris Erler built a sales automation company in Berlin, bootstrapped it to 140 employees, and sold a majority stake to a private equity fund after just four years. He hit every target he'd set for himself at 21: financial freedom by 33, a dent in the economy, the works. Then, an autoimmune condition flared up so badly he couldn't work for three months. His body had been keeping score the whole time. In this conversation, Chris shares what it felt like to stay on as founder under private equity pressure when his gut was screaming to leave. How his brain kept "running on the old program" even after the exit. Why he forced himself to do nothing for 12 months and how an Ikigai process helped him reconnect with what he'd loved since childhood: history, flying, and helping other founders navigate complexity. We explore what freedom actually means once money is no longer the issue, why the post-exit void is really an identity crisis in disguise, and how Chris is now channeling his structured engineering brain and his spiritual side into supporting European scale-ups through the AI shift.

    51 min

  5. Mar 26

    From C-Suite to Awakening: Louis Gagnon on Meditation, Intention and Human Regeneration

    What if the most powerful business decision you ever make is to stop analyzing and start listening to your heart? In this episode of The Next Mountain Podcast, Louis Gagnon shares a career that defies a single label. He left McKinsey in his twenties to build an AIDS prevention program in Rwanda, work that saved an estimated 15,000 lives. He then went on to hold senior leadership roles at Monster, Amazon's Audible, and multiple venture-backed startups, scaling companies from millions to hundreds of millions in revenue. But in 2021, after two near-death experiences, Louis made a different kind of decision. He stopped optimizing. He stopped strategizing. And he started following what his heart had been telling him all along. Today he dedicates his time to what he calls human regeneration, helping entrepreneurs and systems move from extraction to renewal, one relationship at a time. We explore why he built a company around three unusual values (compassion, passion, and dispassion), how he dropped weekly KPIs and never missed a number, and what it really takes to shift from leading with your head to living from your heart. Key Themes in This Conversation Leaving McKinsey for Rwanda and the life experience that shaped everythingThe yogi who told him he was already enoughCompassion, passion, and dispassion as company valuesWhy replacing KPI reviews with connection conversations actually worksThe practice of witnessing: meditation, breath, and questioning your beliefsMoving from forcing your way through life to letting life flow through youHuman regeneration and what the entrepreneurial class owes the world Learn More About Louis Louis Gagnon on LinkedIn

    48 min

  6. Mar 18

    The End of the Rainbow Problem: Raman Sehgal on Life After Selling Your Business

    What happens when you reach the end of the rainbow and realize you don't know where to go next? In this episode of The Next Mountain Podcast, Raman Sehgal shares his journey from accidentally starting a marketing agency to raising private equity and navigating the unexpected emptiness that followed. He never set out to be a founder. Two decades later, he'd built a thriving pharmaceutical marketing agency and achieved an exit he never planned for. But after the celebrations came something he didn't see coming: profound loneliness and the realization that the skills that made him great at building made the transition much harder. We explore why entrepreneurs struggle after reaching the pot of gold, the tension between making money and following your heart, and Raman's evolving vision for youth education and creating real-life skills programs for kids. ✨ Key Themes in This Conversation The emptiness and loneliness after reaching the pot of goldWhy entrepreneurs love the chase more than the destinationTransitioning from founder to board member in a private equity dealThe tension between making money and following your heartBuilding something meaningful: youth clubs, education, and real-life skillsWhy post-exit founders need peers, not just coaches Learn More About Raman The Floundering Founder (Raman's book)Raman on Linkedin

    1 hr

  7. Mar 11

    From Witch to $50M AgTech Founder: Ananda Fitzsimmons on Regeneration and Climate

    What if the skills that make you an entrepreneur are exactly what the planet needs right now? In this episode of The Next Mountain Podcast, Ananda Fitzsimmons shares her unlikely journey from psychotherapist to ag-biotech founder. She built a company that raised $50 million, all while navigating a world that couldn't quite make sense of someone who called herself "just a witch." After her exit in 2017, Ananda didn't retire. She dove deeper into the work that had called her from the beginning: ecosystem restoration and regenerative agriculture. We explore living systems thinking in soil, in business, and in life. Ananda explains why real climate solutions go far beyond carbon and electric cars. She reveals how the complex web of soil, water, and biodiversity holds the key to planetary regeneration. We also talk about the messy reality of post-exit transition, the courage it takes to follow passion over business logic, and how exited founders are uniquely positioned to become stewards of regenerative systems. ✨ Key Themes in This Conversation Following intuition into entrepreneurship without any experienceWhy living soils and ecosystem restoration actually matter for climateThe three pillars of life: carbon, water, and biodiversityHow passion attracts what you need, even when the path isn't clearThe economic system shift we need to truly value nature and life Learn More About Ananda Restoring the Pillars of Life (Ananda's book)Regeneration CanadaAnanda's website

    52 min

  8. Mar 4

    From IPO to Impact: Sami Inkinen on Reversing Metabolic Disease and Finding Your Next Mountain

    What happens when reaching the pinnacle of success turns out to be the most miserable experience and you have to find what actually matters next? In this episode, Sami Inkinen, CEO of Virta Health and founder of Trulia, shares how he went from post-IPO misery to discovering a mission worth building his life around. We explore his unconventional path to finding purpose: rowing across the Pacific Ocean, studying metabolic disease out of curiosity, and eventually committing to reverse diabetes in 1 billion people, not because it made business sense, but because he fell unexplainably in love with the problem. Sami reflects on why the best missions can't be found in spreadsheets, how taking action creates clarity rather than waiting for it, and the difference between building a business with a mission versus a mission disguised as a business. ✨ Key Themes The post-exit identity crisis and addiction to being "on"Why unlimited optionality has negative valueFinding your North Star through action, not analysisBuilding a mission disguised as a businessThe power of discomfort in discovering what's next

    1h 3m
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About

The Next Mountain Podcast brings you real, unfiltered conversations with exited founders, leaders, investors and expert who are redefining success in a quickly changing world. Hosted by the team behind Next Mountain, each episode explores what happens after the exit and how accomplished individuals can turn transitions into clarity, purpose, and impact. From achievement to alignment. From success to stewardship. From solo hustle to collective impact.

Information

  • Creator
    Next Mountain
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    19
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Next Mountain
  • Show Website
    The Next Mountain Podcast