How a wellness visionary is transforming high-performance coaching by bridging 12 Ancient Universal Principles with modern executive needs*

In a world where executive burnout has reached epidemic proportions and traditional wellness approaches fall short, one visionary is pioneering a revolutionary path forward. Lidia Kuleshnyk, known as Lady Apona, isn’t just another wellness coach, she’s a bridge between ancient wisdom and modern high-performance needs, recently featured in the groundbreaking “Zero Limits” movie alongside renowned author Dr. Joe Vitale.

The Zero Limits Connection: Where Ancient Meets Infinite

Kuleshnyk’s feature in the Zero Limits Movie represents more than just recognition, it’s validation of her unique approach to achieving what she calls “the Zero Point of all possibilities.” In the film, she shares her transformative story of healing chronic illness and demonstrates how equine therapy can activate the peace and empowerment that already exists within each person.

“The Zero Point is that place of mastering Taoist non-attachment where you can easily discern and deflect external stressors,” explains Kuleshnyk. “It’s becoming the Buddha, sitting in the middle of the burning inferno, untouched by the flames around you.”

This isn’t metaphorical philosophy, it’s practical methodology that has earned her recognition as a recipient of the Ranath Media Lifetime Achievement Award 2025 and multiple industry honors.

Beyond Mindset: The 12 Ancient Universal Principles Revolution

While mainstream coaching focuses on mindset shifts, Kuleshnyk goes deeper, utilizing what she calls her “12 Ancient Universal Principles” based on Taoist non-attachment. These principles, combined with her three pillars of lasting self-empowerment, Being Centered, Connected, and Conscious™, create what she describes as “a flow state where one moves beyond mindset into a new paradigm of what is possible.”

This approach resonates powerfully with her target audience: overworked CEOs, C-Suite executives, and high performers who’ve mastered traditional success strategies but still struggle with chronic stress and burnout.

“Unlike modern mindset approaches, I have 30 years of expertise in deep healing and deep transformation,” Kuleshnyk notes. “I help clients resolve not just performance issues, but chronic illness, terminal diagnoses, and the chronic stress that leads to serious health conditions.”

The Evolving Self-Mastery Mastermind: Where Leaders Transform

At the pinnacle of Kuleshnyk’s offerings sits her exclusive “Evolving Self-Mastery: Mindset, Power, and Consciousness for Limitless Growth” mastermind, a program designed for executives and thought leaders who have already mastered high-level skills but are ready to expand into new frontiers of their limitless potential.

“This mastermind is a circle of conscious leaders who are the pioneers of expanding consciousness,” she explains. “They’re applying wisdom to experience unprecedented heights of growth while helping humanity navigate this incredible paradigm shift in human consciousness.”

One executive client captured the transformative power of her approach: “With your focused presence, you activated within me parts of myself that were yearning to come out, but I couldn’t access on my own.”

The Healing Power of Horses: Ancient Wisdom in Action

What truly sets Kuleshnyk apart is her integration of equine therapy into high-performance coaching. At her horse rescue sanctuary, Apona Healing Ranch in Ontario, Canada, she demonstrates how “honouring the divinity of horses” helps leaders connect with their own divinity and remember their self-worth and empowerment.

“When we stand in stillness, silence, and presence with horses, their unconditional love activates our intuition, heart, and spirit,” she shares. “This dissolves barriers and creates lasting connection of inner peace and strength.”

Turning Crisis Into Success: The Conscious Leadership Imperative

Kuleshnyk’s ultimate message transcends individual transformation. She’s passionate about empowering conscious leaders to feel secure and confident in their ability to “turn any crisis or situation into success and activate human potential to turn lead into gold.”

Her signature program, “The High Performer’s Secret: 90 Days to Conquer Stress, End Burnout and Create More Energy,” offers a streamlined system for busy executives, while her mastermind provides ongoing support for sustained transformation.

The Future of Executive Wellness

As traditional approaches to executive wellness prove insufficient for modern challenges, Kuleshnyk’s ancient-meets-modern methodology offers what New York Weekly called “something increasingly precious: a sustainable path to true power, performance, and possibility.”

Her approach addresses a critical gap in the market, while coaches like Tony Robbins and Brendon Burchard focus on performance optimization, Kuleshnyk uniquely combines deep healing expertise with high-performance coaching, creating what she calls “the roadmap to exponential success.”

Reclaiming Sovereignty in Leadership

“What makes my approach unique is that it’s not just about achieving goals,” Kuleshnyk emphasizes. “It’s about reclaiming your sovereignty, living as the conscious leader of your life, and becoming a conscious leader of the world.”

This vision of conscious leadership couldn’t be more timely. As executives face unprecedented challenges—from global uncertainty to personal burnout, Kuleshnyk’s integration of ancient universal principles with modern coaching creates a trusted pathway to lasting transformation.

The Zero Limits Life: A New Paradigm

Through her feature in the Zero Limits Movie and her comprehensive coaching programs, Kuleshnyk offers executives something rarely found in traditional wellness approaches: a methodology that addresses the root causes of stress while building sustainable foundations for limitless growth.

“Each person can achieve their goals and dreams, create a limitless life and attract miracles, in any circumstance, with lasting self-empowerment,” she states. “This is about moving beyond what you thought was possible and claiming your place as a great conscious leader.”

For executives ready to move beyond traditional mindset work and into the realm of conscious leadership, Kuleshnyk’s approach represents not just personal transformation, but a pathway to becoming the visionary leaders humanity needs during these transformative times.

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*To learn more about Lidia Kuleshnyk’s:

Zero Limits Movie feature, and the Zero Limits Movie Movement, visit www.AponaHealing.com/movies

Zero Limits Movie is scheduled to be released in September 2025

High Performance Wellness Coaching Programs, including the exclusive “Evolving Self-Mastery” Mastermind, visit www.AponaHealing.com/coaching

*For interviews, speaking engagements, or additional information about Lidia Kuleshnyk’s four pathways to wellness programs and Zero Limits Movie feature, visit www.AponaHealing.com

When underdog entrepreneurs go looking for a coach, they’re not chasing credentials, they’re searching for someone who understands the weight of real leadership and the complexity of building something from the ground up. That’s the heart of First Principles Coaching, based in Richmond, Virginia. The founder of First Principles Coaching,  Colin Davis, helps small business owners cut through complexity, stay accountable, and lead with clarity by drawing on real-world experience and timeless principles, not trendy corporate theory.

From Monk to Mentor: A Journey of Purpose

Colin’s professional story doesn’t start in a boardroom, it starts in silence. For nine years, he lived as a missionary and monk, cultivating habits of mindfulness, discipline, and deep listening. In that time, he helped churches and ministries align their teams, grow their communities, and find shared purpose skills that would later become central to his coaching philosophy.

But it wasn’t until later in life, after years of leading church organizations and nonprofit teams, that Colin felt the pull toward entrepreneurship. “I saw how small businesses could transform communities, families, and individual lives,” he explains. “It reminded me of my dad, who lost everything in business, and then rebuilt it from scratch. That had a profound impact on me.” 

First Principles Coaching: Built for the Underdog

Colin didn’t launch First Principles Coaching with a flashy investor pitch or Silicon Valley buzz. He built it on grit, trust, and one core belief: small business owners deserve the same level of strategic and personal support that executives at large companies get.

His coaching practice focuses on founders with teams of 2–10 employees, often bootstrapped businesses that have grown organically but now face the challenges that come with scale. These entrepreneurs are often overwhelmed, misaligned, and stuck. Colin steps in with a unique hybrid model that combines:

• A proven curriculum on time management, systems, mindset, and team building 
• Custom coaching to address real-time problems as they arise 
• Psychological insight into how leadership and emotion intersect 
• Holistic systems thinking that looks beyond surface symptoms 

This approach has led to tangible results. Two of his clients recently saw 3x revenue growth over 2.5 years. The average growth across all clients? A remarkable 40%. But Colin is quick to emphasize: “The real success isn’t just revenue, it’s alignment. When a business owner becomes the best version of themselves, the business transforms too.”

Coaching Without Credentials And Proud of It

The executive coaching industry often leans heavily on titles and degrees. But Colin believes lived experience, self-awareness, and results matter more. “Like most of my clients, I don’t have an Ivy League education, but I know what it means to lead under pressure, to navigate failure, and to help others do the same,” he says. “My first principles come from philosophy, psychology, and most importantly, real life.”

His work is inspired by ancient thinkers like Socrates, Aristotle, and Epictetus. These thinkers emphasized knowing oneself before leading others, a principle Colin lives by. In fact, the name First Principles Coaching draws directly from this idea: get to the root, understand the cause, build from the foundation.

Why Small Business? Why Now?

Colin has a soft spot for very small businesses, and it’s deeply personal. “My dad was a small business owner. I saw him fail, and I saw him rise again. I know the highs and the heartbreaks. That’s why I work with founders who are in the trenches. They don’t need jargon. They need clarity, accountability, and a strategy that works.”

And in today’s economic climate, where uncertainty is the norm, Colin’s grounded, no-nonsense coaching is a lifeline for many. Surprisingly, the recession hasn’t dented his business. In fact, it’s made his value clearer. “When everything feels unstable, you need someone who can help you make sense of the chaos and build on solid foundations.”

A Vision for the Future

Looking ahead, Colin envisions growing First Principles Coaching into a national or even international coaching firm with a small team of like-minded coaches serving entrepreneurs across the spectrum, from startup solopreneurs to executive teams. But his ultimate goal goes beyond numbers: he wants to spark a ripple effect of purpose-driven leadership. He imagines communities transformed, relationships deepened, and business owners who are more fulfilled, not just more profitable.

Colin Davis may not fit the traditional mold, but maybe that’s the point. He’s not offering glossy slogans or recycled frameworks. He’s offering something far more important in today’s business world: mental clarity, alignment from the inside out, and real results.

With Colin Davis, coaching isn’t about credentials. It’s about character. It’s about results. And it’s about finally becoming the kind of leader your purpose in life calls you to.

In the boroughs of New York, where spectacle often overshadows structure, the quiet hum of public infrastructure goes largely unnoticed — until something fails. Behind the city’s courthouses, correctional facilities, hospitals, and schools, there exists a complex network of electrical systems that everyone takes for granted, but few know the hard work that goes in. 

For nearly six decades, Sajiun Electric Inc. has been one of the companies steadily wiring the city’s most essential institutions. At the center of it all is Richard Sajiun, a man whose legacy was never designed for headlines, but whose influence runs, quite literally, through the walls of public life.

Building Systems That Cannot Go Dark

Sajiun Electric Inc. was founded in 1965 by Richard’s father, Manuel Sajiun, a master electrician who started it with little more than his tools and reputation. The company back then was a local operation, servicing retail spaces, homes, and small commercial buildings. 

Richard began learning the trade early, during his teenage years, working weekends and summers with his father before earning an electrical engineering degree from Suny State University and a master electrician’s license. When he returned to the company in the late 1990s, he did more than just step into a role, he reimagined the company’s future. He decided to steer away the firm’s focus from the saturated, profit-driven private market and reoriented it toward the world of government contracting. 

The Shift to Public Work

Public work was not for the impatient. In fact, it was a decision that many considered to be counterintuitive. Public contracts are not only high-stakes and competitive but dense with regulatory complexity. They demand legal literacy, financial discipline, and an ability to manage risk with surgical precision. Yet for Richard, this landscape offered something the private sector could not: a framework where integrity mattered as much as execution. 

Sajiun Electric began to specialize in rehabilitation and retrofitting, bringing aging infrastructure up to modern code, reinforcing robust systems in environments that could not afford a moment of failure. Hospitals with no room for downtime, prisons where security systems are mission-critical, schools that cannot close their doors — institutions that make up the foundations of society became the company’s domain.

The Ethics of Compliance

As exciting government contracts may have been for Richard Sajiun, these aren’t jobs for companies chasing fast profits. Government work in the U.S. comes with thousands of pages of documentation and layers of bureaucratic procedures. There are prevailing wage laws that mandate electricians be paid much more than the private sector. There are legally binding requirements to subcontract to minority-, women-, and veteran-owned businesses. There are audits, inspections, delays, and months-long payment cycles. Only, unlike private clients, the government doesn’t forgive mistakes. If you miss a line item or a legal clause, you simply don’t get paid.

“You can’t wing this,” Richard says. “This isn’t a ‘figure it out as you go’ industry. You either know how to navigate it, or you’re done before you begin.”

Richard understood early on that if the company was going to survive here, he had to master the administrative side of the trade as thoroughly as the technical. So he did. Richard made sure to put compliance so deeply into the company ethos that every member looked at it not just as a formal requirement but as ethical infrastructure. 

Advice for Those Who Dare Enter the Field

It’s telling that so few firms remain in the government contracting space long term. The barriers to entry are steep, the overhead high, the patience required immense. For younger or less experienced contractors, the system can be particularly unforgiving.

Surely not every contractor is suited for government work. However, that is not to say, no one is. For those who can navigate its rigor, the rewards are also substantial: structure, fairness, and a certainty often absent in the private sector that work, when done right, will never go unpaid.

For those looking to start out in the public sector of the industry, Richard’s advice are:

• Hire Experience Early: Invest in a consultant or estimator who has successfully navigated government contracts before, don’t try it by yourself the first time.
• Read Everything: Government bid documents can run over a thousand pages, but every line is important. Skimming is not an option here.
• Plan for Delayed Payments: Be financially prepared to wait 60-90 days or longer to receive funds.
• Secure Bonding Insurance: This is non-negotiable. Without it, you won’t even qualify to bid.
• Start with Mentor Programs: Government agencies offer pathways for smaller, newer firms. They’re a good way to gain experience without being overwhelmed on the job.
• Respect the Law: Prevailing wages and diversity requirements aren’t optional. Violations can lead to lawsuits or blacklisting.

For over three decades, Richard Sajiun’s leadership has held the backbone of public life together, dependable and invisible, like he will certainly keep doing for many more years to come. There will probably never be a branding refresh or a viral campaign for Sajiun Electric. But in the quiet pulse of backup generators during a blackout, in the flickerless hum of a school hallway, in the consistent beep of hospital instruments keeping patients alive, in the subtle comfort of knowing a public infrastructure will simply work, Richard’s work will endure.

If there were a manual for selling anything to anyone, chances are Trenton Wisecup already wrote it. Or lived it. The GAF Master Elite Contractor, founder of Arrow Roofing, and co-author of the upcoming book “Flip The Script” doesn’t just understand sales, he reinvented the whole game. With a growing national reputation and a string of 7-figure years to his name, Trenton is a veteran technician of psychology behind a sales pitch who has built his reputation by turning high-stakes negotiations into teachable moments.

This is a deeper look at Wisecup’s practical philosophy  — an insight into what has stood him out in roofing, along with a foundational framework for anyone serious about selling and scaling any business.

Law #1: Sell the Story, Not the Product

Hard selling with aggressive tones and relentless pursuit has been the top technique in sales textbooks for years. However, Trenton suggests the opposite — focusing on something he calls “the buyer’s journey”. As the world gets more and more transactional, people value conversations more than conversion according to him:

“No one wants to be sold, but everyone loves a good story. People don’t buy products, they buy the story they believe about those products.” 

As information about products is readily available now, no one wants to hear about features anymore. What matters is what the product can do for the person and how memorable your pitch is. In post-storm neighborhoods where emotions run high and trust runs low, instead of selling roofs, Trenton sells safety, security, and peace of mind. His advice is to listen before you lead, build a relationship, then reframe the solution through the customer’s own emotional context.

Law #2: Empathy Is Your Greatest Asset in Business

Yes, you read that right. In contrast to the recently popular trend of treating empathy as weakness, Trenton Wisecup credits much of his deal-making finesse to what he calls “conflict fluency” — the ability to navigate tension with empathy, not ego. 

“If the clients are pushing back, they’re not rejecting you; they’re protecting themselves from making a bad choice. Your job is to guide them through that fear.”

Trenton’s team regularly role-plays scenarios rooted in real emotion: insurance disputes, post-storm anxiety, and more. In his consulting firm EmpowerMe Consulting, he teaches reps to label feelings, mirror language, and slow the tempo. Pushing people to buy a product is never a good idea, he recommends rather creating a partnership with your client. Instead of — Would you like to proceed? — he advises to ask, What would have to be true for you to feel 100% confident in this decision?

Law #3: Turn Doubt Into An Opportunity for Negotiation

If you want to be a great closer, you need to understand that hesitation isn’t rejection, it’s a request for reassurance. Trenton’s go-to approach is tactical empathy, a method he also discussed in his upcoming book Flip the Script where he collaborated with negotiation expert Chris Voss. 

“If a customer is hesitant, that’s your cue to listen better, build trust, and offer solutions personalized to their concerns,” Trenton says. 

Take the concern of cost. A client might say, “It’s more than I was expecting.” Trenton doesn’t dispute it. He agrees — It should be.  Then he calmly adds: We’re professionals and we’re not doing just a patch job. We’re building something that should outlast your mortgage.

Law #4: Urgency Without Pressure

Creating urgency is essential in sales, but for Trenton, there’s a fine line between momentum and manipulation. “High pressure is a shortcut, and shortcuts kill trust,” he says. Instead, he engineers urgency through relevance. For example, when solar shingles became eligible for a 30% federal tax credit, Wisecup didn’t blast the message. He tailored it: Here’s how your neighbor saved $7,000 last quarter. Here’s how you can too, if you act before Q4. This specificity turns a pitch into a plan, making action feel time-sensitive yet personal. In fact, instead of rushing to fill every pause, Trenton coaches his reps to let the silence breathe: “People talk themselves into decisions when given the space to think.“

Law #5: Scripts Win Sales in the Long-term

While it’s paramount to create a conversation and build a trustful relationship with your client, a certain amount of preparation is a must have for every sales person. Especially when you’re leading a team, to ensure long-term success, you need to create a standard script for everyone, even though your rep might have to modify it on the spot according to the customer’s concerns and needs. 

Having said that, a signature part of Trenton’s training includes conversation templates that don’t sound like templates. Part behavioral psychology, part performance art, his scripts read like dialogues in a play: filled with pauses, reactions, and room for improvisation. 

Here are a few examples:

• Instead of: “What can I do to earn your business today?”
  Try: “What would make you feel fully confident that this is the right choice?”
• Instead of: “Do you want to move forward?”
  Try: “Is there anything that’s holding you back from moving forward today?”

Each script is designed to open emotional space and persuade via participation.

Bottom Line

Don’t chase deals, deals will chase you when you build a relationship with the customer and earn their trust — the mantra Trenton Wisecup lives by. The Arrow Roofing leader is teaching a new generation of entrepreneurs that the future of sales isn’t about polished selling; it’s all about people and the power of a good story.

In a move sending waves across both Wall Street and Silicon Valley, Jensen Huang’s stock sale is making every founder in America pause and pay attention.

The Nvidia CEO, whose $126 billion fortune is almost entirely tied to his company’s meteoric rise, is expected to personally make nearly $1 billion in 2025, not from a bonus, not from speaking gigs, but by gradually selling shares of his own company. At first glance, it’s just another wealthy executive getting richer. But look again, and you’ll see a masterclass in founder strategy, timing, and long-term leverage.

This isn’t just about money. It’s about what kind of entrepreneurial model wins in America’s new economy. Huang, one of the last remaining original founders still running a mega-cap tech company, is showing that it’s possible to stay in control of your business and get liquid, without drama, without stepping down, and without selling your soul to private equity.

His sales are happening through a 10b5-1 plan, a pre-scheduled trading mechanism that allows public company executives to gradually sell stock over time without raising red flags or triggering insider trading concerns. But make no mistake, this plan was designed long before Nvidia overtook Microsoft and Apple to briefly become the world’s most valuable company.

What Jensen Huang’s Stock Sale Teaches Founders

In startup circles, there’s a myth that real entrepreneurs don’t cash out, they ride or die with their company. But Huang is quietly rewriting that script. Over the last two years, he’s sold tens of millions worth of stock, and if this pace continues, he’ll cross the billion-dollar mark this year alone.

The timing is precise. Nvidia’s dominance in the AI chip market has turned it into the beating heart of a global infrastructure shift. From generative AI to self-driving cars, the demand for Nvidia’s hardware is insatiable. Investors are betting on its leadership to continue, and Huang’s moves show confidence, not detachment. Despite the sales, he still owns over 80 million shares of the company.

So what’s the lesson for founders?

First: Liquidity doesn’t mean weakness.
Huang isn’t selling because he’s stepping away. He’s selling because he’s created something so valuable, it’s now smart to take chips off the table. The emotional clarity to do that, without ego or fear, is something most entrepreneurs never reach. They wait for a big exit or acquisition, and sometimes, it never comes.

Second: Control is built in the early days, not at the peak.
Huang never rushed to dilute. He held strong through Nvidia’s early identity crisis, back when it was just a gaming graphics company, not a pillar of global AI. His conviction in deep tech, silicon, and vertical integration wasn’t trendy, it was visionary. And because of that, he still holds enough equity to sell billions and still remain firmly in charge.

Third: Public markets aren’t the enemy.
Too many founders today fear IPOs or Wall Street scrutiny. But Huang uses the system to his advantage. While younger CEOs chase viral hype and seed rounds, he’s playing a long game, one where quarterly results and visionary roadmaps can coexist. Nvidia isn’t just profitable. It’s printing cash, expanding aggressively, and reinvesting in research, all while its CEO earns the kind of liquidity that’s usually reserved for post-acquisition windfalls.

His approach also speaks to a quieter truth: Freedom isn’t about stepping down. It’s about having options.
And those options come from ownership.

Most founders raise too much, too early, then give away control. By the time they build something worth owning, it’s not really theirs. Jensen Huang never made that mistake. And now, he’s reaping the rewards of decades of patience.

This $1 billion sale isn’t a farewell tour. It’s a case study in founder discipline. It’s not a cash grab. It’s a playbook.

Huang’s sales are happening through a 10b5-1 trading plan, a regulatory framework that lets public company executives sell stock at pre-set times.

For upcoming entrepreneurs, the biggest flex isn’t a flashy raise or a hype-driven launch. It’s what Huang has: stability, staying power, and silence. He’s not on social media selling courses. He’s not running a VC fund. He’s building chips, and quietly collecting generational wealth.

This moment also speaks to a larger shift in the U.S. startup world. The most respected founders today are the ones staying focused. They’re not selling their companies for quick exits. They’re building legacy infrastructure, niche brands, or enduring platforms, and planning for financial freedom on their terms.

As more entrepreneurs look to emulate that path, Huang’s stock sale becomes a cultural signal. One that says:

You can take care of your future, without abandoning your vision.

It’s the kind of business move that rarely makes TikTok reels but should be required reading in every founder’s playbook. In a world obsessed with raising money, Huang is showing us how to quietly make it, and keep it.

Level Up Insight

Jensen Huang’s $1 billion stock sale isn’t about ego, it’s about execution. It proves that founders who stay focused, build long, and retain control don’t have to wait for exits or handovers to win. Liquidity is no longer a luxury, it’s the reward of vision, discipline, and patience. For entrepreneurs across America, the message is clear: ownership is freedom, and timing is everything.

They came in gowns. They left with a shot at launching a company.

At Georgia Tech’s 2025 commencement ceremony, the surprise wasn’t a celebrity speaker or a viral valedictorian. It was a no-nonsense businessman stepping up to invest in the students, literally. When entrepreneur and keynote speaker Malik Foster took the stage, few expected him to flip the script on what a graduation speech could be.

“I’m not here to just inspire you,” he said. “I’m here to back you. If you’ve got an idea, I’ll cover your startup’s incorporation costs. Go build it.”

Silence. Then a ripple. Then a roar.

In a moment, an entire graduating class became startup-ready. And just like that, the Class of 2025 had something more valuable than a diploma: permission to start building.

The Most Actionable Commencement Speech in Years

Foster, a Georgia Tech alum and fintech founder, didn’t just hand out feel-good mantras. He offered what so many young entrepreneurs crave but rarely get, logistical backing.

Incorporation might seem minor compared to fundraising or scaling, but it’s a real early-stage hurdle. Filing an LLC, covering state fees, setting up legal infrastructure, it all costs money. And most fresh graduates are already staring down student loans, not startup costs.

So when Foster told students he’d personally cover incorporation costs for any graduate with a startup idea, it wasn’t just generous. It was strategic.

He’s betting that one of them will hit.

This isn’t a flashy PR stunt from a VC firm or a polished incubator giveaway. It’s a founder betting on founders, in the room, in real time. It felt radical because it was immediate. Students didn’t need to apply. They didn’t need to prove traction. They just needed a real idea, and the courage to say yes.

When the Cost Barrier Disappears, What Happens Next?

For a generation of college graduates more entrepreneurial than ever, but burdened with debt, stagnant wages, and a volatile job market, Foster’s pledge struck a nerve.

It turns out incorporation costs, ranging from $300 to $1,200 depending on the state and structure, are often one of the first reasons young builders hesitate. Not because they can’t pay eventually, but because starting requires momentum. And this generation is no stranger to friction.

They’ve grown up watching peers monetize YouTube channels, launch Shopify brands, build AI tools in dorm rooms. Yet they’re told to play it safe. This announcement didn’t just remove red tape. It legitimized a mindset: you are the company.

And when someone removes the first financial barrier, it creates a domino effect. It’s easier to pitch, easier to recruit co-founders, easier to ask for mentorship.

Once you’re incorporated, you’re not “aspiring.” You’re in business.

Georgia Tech’s Growing Reputation as a Builder’s Playground

This isn’t the first time Georgia Tech has made waves for nurturing entrepreneurs, but this moment takes its ecosystem to a new level.

Over the past few years, Tech Square has become a proving ground for founders. Programs like CREATE-X and the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) have already launched dozens of startups from the classroom to real-world markets.

But this, this direct pledge, is an accelerant.

Foster’s move echoes a broader shift happening in American universities: a move away from purely academic laurels toward founder-first thinking. As more students choose entrepreneurship over employment, commencement itself is evolving, from a final exam to a launchpad.

Not Just Symbolic: A Shift in Entrepreneurial Capital

This isn’t just a nice gesture. It reflects a change in who gets to start.

Traditionally, capital waits for traction. But pre-seed access, especially for students of color, first-gen graduates, and international students, is nearly nonexistent. Foster’s pledge doesn’t just offer cash. It flips the timeline. Instead of “build first, fund later,” it’s “get legit now, then go build.”

What he’s done is more than cover a fee. He’s democratized day one.

By removing one of the first bureaucratic steps, he’s said: You’re worth the paperwork.

And that has ripple effects far beyond Georgia Tech.

What happens when other institutions see this? When Stanford grads ask for the same backing? When state schools decide to fund their builders, not just boast about them? Foster may have just started a new race, not for jobs, but for first customers.

The Rise of Commencement Capital

This moment might mark the beginning of a broader trend: Commencement Capital, where graduation becomes not just a milestone but a launch event.

We’ve seen billionaire donors pay off student loans or build innovation centers, but few have offered transactional tools that immediately spark entrepreneurial motion. Incorporation costs are small, but the psychological impact is massive.

It tells young people that entrepreneurship isn’t a privilege, it’s a path. And it starts today, not “someday.”

In an age where Gen Z is already ditching 9-to-5s, stacking revenue streams, and building brand-first businesses, this kind of activation isn’t just nice, it’s necessary.

Level Up Insight

Entrepreneurship isn’t about waiting. It’s about starting, and most dreams die before step one. Malik Foster’s bold promise to cover incorporation costs at Georgia Tech doesn’t just empower a class, it sets a precedent. As more institutions begin to realize the power of direct, actionable support, we could see a future where every graduation comes with capital. This isn’t just a win for the students, it’s a call to all universities: stop preaching startup culture and start funding it.

In a quiet corner of Alabama, a startup-minded medical alliance is quietly flipping the script on trauma care. Huntsville, better known for its space heritage, is now emerging as an unexpected epicenter for a new kind of healthcare disruption, one that treats trauma not just as an emotional or psychological condition, but as a biological injury that can be identified, targeted, and healed.

At the heart of this movement is a groundbreaking partnership between trauma researchers, bioengineers, and entrepreneurial clinicians, blending neuroscience with biotech to challenge a deeply entrenched belief: that trauma is invisible, subjective, and largely untreatable. They’re betting on the opposite. And they’re turning that bet into one of the most quietly ambitious trauma interventions the U.S. has seen in years.

The core premise is as revolutionary as it is practical, that trauma, like a sprained ankle or a broken arm, leaves measurable biological traces. Changes in cortisol, inflammation markers, brainwave activity, and nervous system function can all be tracked, decoded, and eventually rebalanced. This isn’t therapy in the traditional sense. It’s trauma treatment as diagnostics plus repair.

Huntsville’s new wave of practitioners are building systems that lean heavily on hardware: wearable tech that reads nervous system strain, brain imaging tools that map real-time neural trauma signatures, and biofeedback platforms designed to reset the body’s stress response. But what makes this more than just a wellness trend is the entrepreneurial model underneath. These aren’t nonprofit research pilots. They’re for-profit ventures, agile, scalable, and deeply focused on data.

Founders behind these tools are building with the mindset of biomedical startups, not just health providers. They want to prove outcomes, file patents, get FDA clearance, and license tech to larger systems. The goal isn’t just healing. It’s creating a new category of care that lives between psychiatry and neurology, and becomes a national export from Huntsville.

In many ways, the movement echoes what Silicon Valley did to wellness. But this time, it’s not meditation apps or mood tracking. It’s about treating PTSD the way you treat a concussion — with real-time scans, objective metrics, and a clinical roadmap. And for the 50 million Americans currently navigating unresolved trauma, that could mean an entirely new healthcare path.

The science is backing them up. Studies from institutions around the country have shown how trauma reshapes the brain, shrinking the hippocampus, altering the amygdala, and throwing the prefrontal cortex off balance. These are not abstract experiences. They are physical imprints. And that’s where the Huntsville model starts: trauma is not just a feeling. It’s a wound.

The big innovation? Local startups are using that idea to build diagnostics that quantify trauma, not just through self-reporting or behavioral observation, but through bio-signals and brainwaves. One approach uses EEGs to scan for trauma-related brainwave patterns. Another links galvanic skin response with emotional triggers to measure how the body “remembers” stress. The data isn’t just for show. It informs personalized repair protocols that use neurostimulation, vagus nerve training, and targeted cognitive rebalancing to speed up recovery.

For entrepreneurs in this space, the opportunity is massive. Mental health tech has already crossed $16 billion in funding globally. But trauma-specific treatment remains a wide-open frontier. Insurance providers are eager for scalable solutions with measurable outcomes. Veterans groups, school systems, and law enforcement agencies are all exploring partnerships for trauma support that goes beyond therapy and into physical re-regulation.

What makes Huntsville unique is its ecosystem, a mix of defense tech, biosciences, and a growing number of ex-military founders who understand trauma not as theory, but as lived experience. These are entrepreneurs building products they wish existed for their comrades, children, or even themselves.

And while Silicon Valley builds for clicks, Huntsville is quietly building for clinical validation. This gives the city an edge. Startups here aren’t optimizing for dopamine loops or engagement metrics. They’re going after FDA-backed solutions that could plug directly into hospital networks, veteran affairs programs, and first responder systems. In short, they’re building not for hype,  but for healthcare infrastructure.

Still, there are hurdles. Trauma’s deeply individual nature means one-size-fits-all solutions won’t cut it. And the ethics of monetizing trauma treatment raise serious questions. But the founders here argue that cost shouldn’t deter innovation. In fact, without scalable solutions, trauma care will remain stuck in elite clinics and underfunded nonprofits. Their pitch is simple: treating trauma as a biological injury makes healing measurable, and therefore, fundable.

Already, whispers from investors are getting louder. Angel networks from Texas and Tennessee are scouting Huntsville’s new neuro-health ventures. A few stealth-mode startups are reportedly nearing Series A rounds. And biofeedback hardware companies from the coasts are eyeing joint ventures to access Huntsville’s unique trauma-informed datasets.

It’s early, but not experimental. The metrics are real. The tools are already being piloted in schools, trauma recovery clinics, and even court diversion programs. And unlike vague mental health platforms that rely on self-reporting and loose engagement metrics, this model is tightly linked to quantitative change: nervous system downregulation, brainwave balance, cortisol normalization. That’s not just mental health. That’s biology.

And biology is the most scalable product there is.

Level Up Insight

Huntsville’s trauma tech movement isn’t just redefining how we treat pain, it’s creating a new category of entrepreneurial healthcare. One that blends deep science, real metrics, and startup agility to tackle one of society’s oldest wounds with the precision of modern medicine. As founders across America hunt for the next breakout sector, this quiet revolution in Alabama might just be the next billion-dollar idea, not because it promises comfort, but because it promises cure.

For years, the skincare industry promised that clean meant foamy, bubbly, and fragrant. But for millions of Americans with sensitive skin, that promise backfired, leaving behind redness, rashes, and long-term irritation. What if the solution wasn’t adding more chemicals, but removing the very thing we all assumed was essential?

That’s the bet a wave of new American skincare founders are making. Their approach is radical in its simplicity: ditch the soap entirely. These entrepreneurs believe that removing harsh surfactants, the core cleansing agents in most soaps, can unlock healthier skin, and maybe even reshape the $160 billion global skincare market.

Let’s dive into the five standout brands leading the soap-free skincare revolution, and the business models behind their breakout success.

1. Nura Skin: The $10M Disruptor Born From Eczema

Founded in 2021 by a former nurse who suffered from chronic eczema, Nura Skin didn’t begin in a lab. It began in a kitchen, mixing colloidal oats and fermented rice water in small batches. Her goal was personal: find something gentle enough for her own hypersensitive skin.

By 2024, Nura Skin had become a $10 million brand with a cult following and a product line that proudly excludes soap, sulfates, and synthetic fragrances. Their signature cleansing milk, made from oil-in-water emulsions, cleanses without disrupting the skin barrier. No foam, no burn, no compromise.

Their growth came not from influencers, but from glowing reviews in online forums and dermatology communities. The company credits its success to word-of-mouth marketing and transparency, refusing venture capital and instead focusing on slow, steady scale.

2. Bare Method: The Tech-Backed Cleanser Startup

Started by two MIT grads with backgrounds in chemical engineering, Bare Method’s soap-free innovation uses bio-compatible cleansing agents designed to mimic the skin’s natural lipid balance. The result? A cleansing bar that looks like soap but acts like a moisturizer in disguise.

Bare Method recently closed a $3.2M seed round and is now partnering with dermatologists to study how their formulations perform against traditional soap-based cleansers in clinical trials. Their goal is to position soap-free as not just a lifestyle choice, but a science-backed standard for those with reactive skin.

They’ve also adopted a direct-to-consumer model with subscription options that include skin health tracking via their mobile app, bringing tech into the clean beauty world in a way that feels deeply personal.

3. Plūma Organics: The Minimalist’s Answer to Over-Cleansing

Plūma’s rise began on TikTok, but it’s their philosophy, not their marketing, that’s gained them a devoted following: “Skin is smart. Let it breathe.”

Their hero product, a soap-free micro-emulsion cleanser, contains fewer than eight ingredients and focuses on preservation of the skin’s natural pH. While other brands chase complexity, Plūma strips skincare down to its essentials. Their minimal branding, eco-friendly packaging, and refillable pouches have attracted Gen Z consumers looking for both skin safety and environmental responsibility.

The brand currently ships to over 20,000 subscribers monthly and recently launched an in-store pilot with a national wellness retailer.

4. DermaFiend: The Dermatologist-Driven Alternative

Created by a board-certified dermatologist in California, DermaFiend was born out of frustration with existing sensitive-skin solutions that were either too weak or too harsh. Their patented “Soap-Free Complex” is a blend of amino acid cleansers and fermented botanicals, specifically formulated for post-treatment skin recovery (think microneedling, laser, or peels).

It’s not just consumers flocking to DermaFiend. Med spas and clinics are adopting it as their post-procedure cleanser of choice. That medical credibility is turning into commercial success, with B2B contracts making up 40% of the brand’s revenue. It’s a different route to market, but one that’s working.

5. Quiet Water Co.: The Boutique Brand Winning at Word-of-Mouth

With zero paid advertising and only one product, Quiet Water Co. might seem like the underdog, but their soap-free gel cleanser has become a low-key favorite in niche skincare circles.

Launched by a mother-daughter duo out of Portland, this brand emphasizes simplicity and ritual. Each product comes with a handwritten note and small-batch batch number, emphasizing craftsmanship over scale. Their customer retention rate is over 80%, unheard of in the skincare world.

They credit their growth to two things: community and trust. Their story reminds us that you don’t need flashy branding to build something meaningful, just something that works, especially when no one else is doing it.

Why Soap-Free Is More Than a Trend

What all these brands have in common isn’t just formulation, it’s philosophy. Each one views sensitive skin not as a niche, but as a neglected majority. They’re rejecting the one-size-fits-all approach of mainstream skincare and instead focusing on personalized, science-backed, barrier-friendly solutions.

They’re also bootstrapping, slow scaling, and putting education before virality. In a world obsessed with TikTok hacks and overnight results, soap-free skincare is choosing to be boring, and it’s working.

And with more Americans reporting sensitive or sensitized skin than ever before (a trend linked to pollution, over-exfoliation, and stress), the timing couldn’t be better.

Level Up Insight:

Sometimes disruption doesn’t mean adding something new, it means taking something away. The founders behind these soap-free skincare brands didn’t reinvent the wheel. They just removed the suds. And in doing so, they tapped into a growing movement of health-conscious, ingredient-aware, and irritation-weary consumers who were tired of being overlooked. In the process, they’ve shown that softness, both in skin and in business, is a strength, not a weakness.

It’s 7:30 PM. Laptop opens. Ring light flickers on. Door shuts quietly behind. And just like that, another American creator goes to work, after work.

This is the new era of entrepreneurship in America, where the day job pays the bills, but the night job builds the dream. From solo podcasters to Notion template sellers, a quiet but explosive shift is underway: the 5-9 hustle is no longer a side story, it’s the main event.

Unlike the traditional startup fantasy of quitting your job and raising capital, this generation is building real brands with zero investors, zero employees, and zero permission. They’re armed with audience-first strategies, automation tools, and clarity of purpose. The grind hasn’t disappeared, it’s just been repackaged with freedom.

The Rise of the After-Hours Entrepreneur

For decades, the American dream centered on climbing a ladder. But Gen Z and Millennials are choosing to build elevators instead. Why wait for a promotion when you can sell a digital product tonight and make more than your monthly bonus?

These aren’t hobbyists. They’re founders, operating with intent, creativity, and a clear exit strategy: ownership. What starts as a passion project on Instagram quickly becomes a coaching funnel, a newsletter, or a full-fledged product ecosystem.

The beauty of the 5-9 hustle? It’s low-risk, high-reward. You don’t need to burn bridges to start. You need consistency, curiosity, and the courage to create publicly.

From Content to Capital

Attention is the new currency. And these creators know how to mint it.

A former teacher sells parenting guides. A runner shares fitness programs. A gamer drops digital collectibles. In every case, content is the top of the funnel, and authenticity is the conversion mechanism.

These aren’t just creators, they’re businesses. They learn analytics. Test offers. Build in public. The line between side hustle and scalable business is getting thinner every night.

And while the 9-5 paycheck pays rent, the 5-9 hustle builds wealth. For many, it’s not about quitting the job, it’s about giving themselves the option to quit.

When Side Hustles Outgrow the 9-5

For some, the goal isn’t to quit the job. It’s to redefine its place in life. The 9, 5 becomes the investor, funding ads, tools, and experiments. The 5, 9 becomes the incubator, where purpose, passion, and ownership collide.

But here’s the twist: what starts as “just a side thing” often gains traction quickly. Within months, creators are making more from their digital product or community than their salary. The shift happens quietly. First, it’s gas money. Then rent. Then it replaces the job.

The creator doesn’t announce their resignation. They simply stop showing up, online, they’ve already arrived.

The Tools Behind the Movement

One reason this revolution is possible: the rise of no-code tools and AI automation. You no longer need a team to build. You need a template and a clear offer.

• Canva replaces a designer.

• ConvertKit replaces a full marketing team.

• Gumroad becomes your e-commerce backend.

• ChatGPT becomes your assistant, strategist, and copywriter, all in one.

With these tools, creators can do in two hours what startups used to take weeks to achieve. It’s not just about working harder, it’s about working sharper.

Why This Is More Than Just a Trend

The 5-9 hustle isn’t a Gen Z gimmick or a post-pandemic phase. It’s a foundational shift in how Americans view income, identity, and opportunity.

Where older generations saw side hustles as backups, today’s creators see them as launchpads. Building something of your own is no longer a rebellion, it’s a rite of passage.

This isn’t hustle culture. It’s ownership culture. And the creators who show up after dark aren’t just chasing dollars, they’re building digital legacies.

Level Up Insight

In 2025, America’s most important businesses aren’t being born in incubators, they’re being born at night, by creators who understand one truth: the future doesn’t belong to the loudest, the richest, or the fastest, it belongs to those who keep building quietly until they can’t be ignored.

The 5-9 hustle isn’t the side show anymore. It’s the main event, and it’s time the world took it seriously.

Scaling a startup is a thrilling but often chaotic journey. The rapid pace of growth, pressure to deliver, and juggling countless priorities can quickly spiral into disarray. Nathalie El Barche Antonios, a seasoned entrepreneur and startup advisor, has seen it all, and she believes there’s a way to scale sustainably without losing control.

Her message to founders is clear: scaling startups doesn’t have to mean chaos. Instead, it’s about building the right systems, culture, and mindset from day one to handle growth gracefully.

The Scaling Struggle

Most startups start small and nimble. But as they grow, complexity grows exponentially. New hires, expanding markets, evolving products, and increasing customer demands create tangled webs of communication and processes. This often results in missed deadlines, burnout, and quality dips.

Nathalie points out that many startups fall into the trap of “growth at all costs,” sacrificing clarity and organization in favor of speed. “It’s like trying to drive a car faster and faster without ever upgrading the engine or brakes,” she says.

Systems Over Hustle

One of Nathalie’s core principles is that systems and processes aren’t bureaucracy, they’re enablers of growth. She encourages startups to invest early in scalable workflows and automation tools that reduce manual tasks and human error.

For example, customer support teams should use ticketing systems that prioritize issues and track response times rather than relying on ad hoc emails or Slack messages. Sales teams need CRM tools that not only capture leads but analyze patterns and forecast pipeline.

Culture Is the Glue

No system can replace a strong culture, says Nathalie. Culture is what keeps teams aligned and motivated during periods of rapid change. She advises founders to foster transparency, psychological safety, and clear communication channels.

“A culture where people feel safe to speak up, ask for help, and challenge ideas creates a self-correcting system,” she explains. This reduces chaos by catching problems early and encouraging collaborative solutions.

Prioritization and Focus

Startups often get pulled in too many directions, new features, new markets, fundraising, hiring, and more. Nathalie stresses the importance of prioritization to prevent overload.

She recommends using frameworks like the Eisenhower Matrix to separate urgent tasks from important ones, ensuring teams focus on what truly drives progress. “Chaos thrives when everything feels urgent. Leaders need to decide what actually matters,” she says.

Leadership Mindset

Scaling without chaos also requires a shift in leadership. Founders must transition from doing everything themselves to empowering others. This means delegating effectively and trusting managers to own parts of the business.

Nathalie emphasizes that leadership is about enabling people, not controlling every detail. “When you trust your team and give them clarity, you create a force multiplier that handles complexity better than any founder could alone.”

Real-World Example

Nathalie shares a story from her own experience working with a SaaS startup that grew from 10 to 100 employees in under two years. Early on, the company ignored process in the rush to hire and ship features.

As a result, internal confusion grew: product teams duplicated work, customer support was overwhelmed, and morale dipped. When Nathalie stepped in, she helped implement simple systems, weekly cross-team syncs, project management tools, and clear role definitions.

Within six months, the startup regained control and accelerated growth without the usual burnout or chaos. The key was building infrastructure alongside scaling headcount and revenue.

The Role of Technology

Technology plays a vital role in scaling efficiently. Nathalie encourages startups to embrace tools that automate routine tasks, track key metrics, and provide data-driven insights.

But she warns against over-reliance on technology as a silver bullet. “Tools are only as good as the processes and people behind them. The right tech amplifies good habits, it doesn’t replace them.”

Scaling for the Long Term

Nathalie stresses that sustainable scaling is a marathon, not a sprint. Quick growth might feel good initially but can create lasting damage if not managed properly.

Her advice? Build with intention, invest in people, and constantly revisit systems and culture. “Chaos is a symptom of mismatch, between ambition and capacity, vision and reality. Fix those, and scaling becomes an exciting, manageable journey.”

Level Up Insight

Scaling a startup without chaos isn’t luck, it’s strategy. By focusing on strong systems, a healthy culture, disciplined prioritization, and empowered leadership, startups can grow fast and smart. As Nathalie El Barche Antonios shows, scaling is less about speed and more about control.