Why the Smartest Founders Stopped Trusting Their Brain

Why the Smartest Founders Stopped Trusting Their Brain

July 15, 2026 · 54 min · Episode 30

About this episode

The episode discusses the importance of trusting different forms of intelligence beyond just intellect in decision making for founders.

Jesse Pujji's wife met a CTO candidate at a happy hour and came away with a weird feeling she couldn't put into words. The guy had interviewed perfectly and accepted the offer, then reneged by email on the morning he was supposed to start. This episode is about the kind of intelligence Jesse spent most of his life overriding. Dave Kashen has coached Jesse for almost ten years, and the premise of this show is that success does not require suffering. In this first episode, the two of them dig into why founders over-rely on the intellect even though the brain is a survival organ that overweights threat and often gets its predictions wrong. Dave lays out a simple map of three intelligences: the head that thinks, the heart that holds emotion and desire, and the gut that knows instantly. The conversation works through how to tell them apart, how to start trusting them, and what changes when you stop running every decision through your head.

People in this episode

Host: Jesse Pujji

Guest: Dave Kashen

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CTO

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