Clarke Pennington: From Wall Street to CPG Startup Founder

He Quit a Top Ad Agency to Bet on a Category That Didn't Exist | Rei Lalo, TRIHARD

If you've been telling yourself you'll start the thing "when you're ready," this episode is for you. Rei Lalo had a stable job at McCann — one of the biggest ad agencies in the world. He'd been promoted twice in three years. He had a clear ten-year trajectory, a real salary, and the kind of resume that opens doors for the rest of your career. He walked away from it. With no college degree, no credibility in the industry he wanted to enter, and some savings, he started building TRIHARD — a hair and skincare brand for athletes. Six years later, it's in over Dick's Sporting Goods stores across the country, used by Olympic swimmers, and has raised ~$5M. In this conversation, we get past the highlight reel. Rei tells us about the rounds that almost didn't close and what it really took to break free from corporate. The voice in his head that is against playing it safe — and the question he asks himself every time he's tempted to hold back. If you're in the comfortable job dreaming about the uncomfortable one, this is the conversation you didn't know you needed and the best use of your time. In this episode, you'll learn: * How to know when it's time to quit a stable job * How to fundraise without experience or a track record * How to take action before you feel ready * How to build a brand in a category that doesn't exist yet * How to make the worst-case scenario work for you instead of against you * How to think about financial risk when you're starting from scratch * How to keep going when investors push back * How to build resilience from injury, setback, or rejection * How to listen to your gut when everyone around you says to play it safe * How to live with a decision that scares you Three takeaways for the founder you might become: 1. The "right time" doesn't exist and is a story your fear tells you 2. Your worst case is almost never as bad as you think 3. Regret compounds faster than money does Connect:Rei Lalo: on LinkedInTRIHARD: trihard.com / @wetrihard Follow GUT for conversations with founders about the calls they made that no one else would have.

Clarke Pennington: From Wall Street to CPG Startup Founder

Clarke Pennington spent a decade in finance: investment banking, Columbia MBA, a consumer hedge fund. Then he left to build Lasso, a better-for-you gelatin cup with protein and fiber that no one had been able to manufacture before. He gave himself 12 months. He did it in 11 — with six failed production runs, a co-manufacturer who wouldn't return his calls for four months, and stress so severe his hair started falling out. We talk about what it's like to leave a career everyone envies, what happens when the people who raised you to always perform your best become your investors, and the line between relentlessness and self-destruction. "As long as you don't kill yourself in the process." @eatlasso on Instagram and TikTok Claim Your Complimentary Career Clarity Session: https://www.wellthbykirsten.com/booking-calendar/complimentary-consultation?referral=book_button_widget

Anonymous Big Law Associate: Her High Pain Tolerance Almost Killed Her

She walked into her boss's office crying and came out smiling. For years, Sabrina was the Law Associate everyone thought was fine. Her firm literally put "high pain tolerance" in her performance review. She took it as a compliment. Her body was telling a different story. This is GUT's first anonymous episode. Sabrina is still close to the world she left behind, so her voice and identity have been disguised. What hasn't been disguised is what she went through: a childhood spent performing composure, a career in big law that rewarded her for never needing anything, and the moment she finally saw what everyone around her had been watching all along. This episode is for the change-curious folks out there. Topics: big law burnout, performing calm, identity and achievement, immigrant parent expectations, the cost of competence, anonymous interview

Vanessa Mitchell: The Performer Who Couldn't Quit

Vanessa Mitchell has been a professional performer since she was a teenager: musical theater, national tours, cruise ships, aerial acts. From the outside, she was living the dream. On the inside, her perfectionism and anxiety were running the show. When her body started breaking down on a luxury cruise ship and a doctor told her she should consider leaving, it was the first time anyone had given her permission to quit. In this episode, Vanessa talks about what it's like to audition every single day and find out you didn't get the part at a friend's birthday party. She talks about crying every day during aerial training because she couldn't climb the rope. About having a panic attack because she was too scared to sing into a microphone. And about the moment she realized the thing she loved most was also the thing destroying her. Topics: performing arts career, musical theater, anxiety and perfectionism, quitting, cruise ship life, COVID impact on performers, audition culture, mental health, the swing role

Geri: Iced Out at Work, Viral on Tiktok

Geri spent six years in the legal field doing everything right, taking on extra work, building new skills, waiting for the moment she'd earned enough to ask. When she finally walked into that room and advocated for a promotion, it didn't go the way she expected. Instead of moving up, she got iced out. No one gave her work. No one talked to her. She sat at her desk in a quiet office with nothing to do. And one afternoon, she opened TikTok and started filming. That video went viral. Strangers she'd never met showed up with more support than her own friends and family. She failed a certification exam, left her job on a Monday, and got engaged on a Ferris wheel in Montreal five days later. She cried on that Ferris wheel, not just because she was happy, but because everything was happening at once and she wasn't allowed to grieve before the next thing arrived. This is a conversation about what happens when you finally use your voice and it costs you the thing you were building, about finding community in the last place you expected, and about learning to believe you're good enough after the place that was supposed to prove it told you that you weren't. Find Geri at @SincerelyGeri on TikTok.