This week we're BACK with Kobby O’sei Kusi, who leapt to the US and achieved what most of us would call a whole lot of ‘outward’ success. Until he stopped and asked himself: "are these goals, are all these things I achieved, really true to me?” Last week we ended with Kobby starting that internal shift, and today we’ll hear how it all ended up, including how he:
Find Kobby Osei-Kusi at Kobby@thepirl.com or on Linkedin, and learn more about the extraordinary company he ultimately founded - Pirl Technology, "Next-generation EV charging technology" - at https://www.pirlcharger.com/.
Annnd references from this episode:
***
Have guest ideas? Can't wait to hear what leaps will be next?
Subscribe to Life Leaps Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts! Follow, rate and review us - we're *brand new* so, it means a lot - and be the first to know when we launch new episodes each week:
*ACCESSIBILITY: Transcripts are available for each episode here. (Just click your episode of choice, and then click the "transcript" tab! And if you have any issues at all don't hesitate to reach out.)
This week we're BACK with Kobby O’sei Kusi, who leapt to the US and achieved what most of us would call a whole lot of ‘outward’ success. Until he stopped and asked himself: "are these goals, are all these things I achieved, really true to me?” Last week we ended with Kobby starting that internal shift, and today we’ll hear how it all ended up, including how he:
Find Kobby Osei-Kusi at Kobby@thepirl.com or on Linkedin, and learn more about the extraordinary company he ultimately founded - Pirl Technology, "Next-generation EV charging technology" - at https://www.pirlcharger.com/.
Annnd references from this episode:
***
Have guest ideas? Can't wait to hear what leaps will be next?
Subscribe to Life Leaps Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts! Follow, rate and review us - we're *brand new* so, it means a lot - and be the first to know when we launch new episodes each week:
*ACCESSIBILITY: Transcripts are available for each episode here. (Just click your episode of choice, and then click the "transcript" tab! And if you have any issues at all don't hesitate to reach out.)
Kobby - Part TWO
[00:00:00]
Kobby: you sort of have done everything that society expects of you. After that, you need to craft a life for yourself.
Life Leaps Podcast: Welcome to Life Leaps Podcast. Hear inspiring stories of ordinary people who made extraordinary life changes. What drove them, what almost held them back. Insights for the rest of us considering life leaps big or small, because hearing someone else do it reminds us that we can too.
happy Wednesday, everyone. So quick update. I guess I'm becoming like a life leaps person to talk to, which I love. but I'm so lucky and excited to be featured today on the great teacher resignation podcast, which is another amazing podcast about career change.
We talk about steps to consider before making a life leap and the importance of homing in on your why. So that's the great teacher resignation or TGT our podcast. And I'll include a link in the show notes to this episode.
Okay. [00:01:00] So today we're back with Cabi. Oh, sick. QC. Who leapt to the us and achieved what most of us would call
A whole lot of outward success.
Good job. Good degree, including from Harvard business school. You know, he'd kind of checked a lot of boxes. Until he stopped and asked himself. Are these goals, all these things I achieved really true to me. So last week we ended with Cabi starting that internal shift. And today we'll hear how it all ended up.
Including how he number one? Decided to leave a job he wants loved. Number two, went on a mission to reorient his compass from the outer world to the inner one. Number three figured out what makes him tick and now does it.
With a company called Pearl technology building very innovative electric vehicle charging stations. And number four. Learn to navigate and even appreciate the doubt [00:02:00] and the not knowing then. And now. Cabi. And I talk a lot about learning to stand on one's own two feet. You'll see what he means when he says that in a minute.
and that really comes full circle at the very end of our conversation. It also reminds me of the constant dance. We're all doing to both be true to ourselves and figure out what that even looks like. While also staying in relationship with others and navigating sort of the noise of the world. Anyhow here is KV. and as always there'll be more on him and his journey in the show notes for this episode
Kobby: I had really spent a lot of time pushing to attain a lot of goals, and I had attained them, and then I had this feeling of. A what next? And b, were these oral goals that were really true to me. Right.
You know, you know, I had work experience and I didn't need to worry about my visa status anymore. So it was a really good time to pause and [00:03:00] reflect, In terms of, what impact or change or how do I want to direct my life right now?
what do I want my life to look like?
Life Leaps Podcast: So you're having this internal shift and something big happens in your external world, too.
Right.
Kobby: and coincidentally around that time, my group got sold to another company. And and so I came back and started working on some,other projects within,headquarters.
but they were not mission driven so Ithe reason I joined the company no longer existed.
Life Leaps Podcast: Kabi? What came first?
Your internal reflections of like, It's sort of your existential crisis, if you will, I've done what is expected of me, but were these the right goals? What do I really want? did those questions come first or did the sale of the Africa group and you being like, oh no, this thing that's working for me is no longer gonna be there.
Like which came first? The internal, the external.
Kobby: I think the [00:04:00] internal, because I think you always have those questions, right? You always have them. Yeah. They're always Below the radar somewhere down there. They're there. because you know when you're not, fully aligned when your work.
it's not fully aligned with who you are. You know it deep down, right? Sometimes it, it bubbles up to the top, but most of the time it's there, but then when life sort of brings a really dramatic thing, then it forces what was on the underlying to actually become,to actually come to the surface.
so it was always there.
Life Leaps Podcast: okay, so you've got, it's there. And then this sort of critical juncture arises. It was like this, the perfect confluence of internal and external come together Yeah. yeah, what do you do?
first thought was, I needed time to, really reflect and decide. and I started,I was saving a lot, but I started even aggressively saving.
Kobby: because I knew I was going to leave. and, so I. [00:05:00] Saved as much money as I could, maxed out my 401k. And, I took a year off. I,so did something perhaps a little drastic.I actually, I,I resigned, first and then,and then my boss told me, Hey, we need you to stick around for this really important project. So I ended up actually staying, so I almost had two going away parties.
told everyone I was leaving, resigned, and then I ended up staying for another six months to complete. Oh wow. this project. and so had a second, going away party. butas soon as I left the company, I moved to New York, found an apartment with two strangers on Craigslist, and, I took a year off, where I didn't work and I just bought a lot of books and read and reflected and just, really bought myself, time,to be able to really think through what I wanted.
Life Leaps Podcast: Okay remember you telling me like con more concretely, it was a two year [00:06:00] process. You were like, a year before I actually quit my job.
I knew I wanted to quit. And so I started, like you said, saving. Saving aggressively. I didn't know the part where you tried to leave six months in, you ended up saying another six months. did you know what you wanted to do next? Or it sounds like No.
You were like, I just know that something is there for me. It's not this, and I need time to figure that out.
Kobby: That's exactly right. What you just said is exactly right. Yeah.
Life Leaps Podcast: Okay. Because a lot of people, I think this is changing, okay? But a lot of people, the conventional wisdom is don't like, don't leave what you've got in your hand.
You've got something new in your hand now, obviously. Yeah. I also didn't follow that currently. And you're not following this. I'm not here to preach. Okay. But I'm just saying, most people, I'm not throwing stones from a glass house, but yeah. But most people would say why don't you figure out what you're doing next, my friend, while you're earning that nice paycheck?
why didn't you do that?
Kobby: just stepping back, it's really funny that like [00:07:00] the advice we give people is not the advice that we actually do, right? we always have to be careful of what people are saying,
Because what people do actually tends to be very different, so I'm not really wired that way, in the sense that,I'm more wired to go all in when I want to go after something, right? I think time is your biggest asset, and when you're working for a big company, what you don't realize is that they mentally own you a hundred percent.
It's very hard to disassociate mentally, from your job to really reflect on some of these other things, Which need time, need, If you imagine sort of a soil where you've planted a seed needs sunlight, it needs rain, it meets tendon for it, ac for it to actually grow, right?
and the corporate world, is very good at, even when you are taking a shower, your boss is running in your mind, so I think there are certain jobs where you can take a sabbatical or [00:08:00] where you can actually,be able to disassociate, but those are few, for the most part, they're constant emails you're expected to be a hundred percent in, right?
so it's hard to disassociate. But also I think personally, I would rather, give myself the best chance, to actually grasp something that is true. I don't think,I don't think quote unquote, half-ass in your life mission is is good for you, right?
or trying to be like playing it safe. This is a really important question, For yourself. what do you want to be, what impact you want to have on the world. So if you can afford it, and you can, if you can plan for it, you, you're probably gonna get a lot more out of actually giving yourself the room for literally your deepest passions to bubble up to the surface.
Wow.
Life Leaps Podcast: you knew you needed a detox, Yep. Exactly.
Did you know it was gonna be a whole year? what did that time look like for you? Cavi?
Kobby: I. No, I didn't know [00:09:00] it was a whole year. I really didn't know. It was a whole year. I signed a one year lease, but,I thought it was gonna be sooner than that.
this was around 20 14, 20 15. and I started visiting startups in New York City. cuz, at, I was thinking of a startup company or being part of an early stage company. if I would see, some news article, about a certain startup in the city, I would just shoot him an email and I'll stop by and talk with them.
and,so just got quite a bit of exposure to what was going on in the entrepreneurial scene. I remember,visiting the mattress company, Casper. Okay. and,at that time it was just so clear they had already, taken off. but it was just clear that it was just gonna be such a big company.
and, but you just knew that because you could actually go visit and spend half a day with, the C o O or some of the senior folks there. Again, something that you can't really do, for the most part while you are employed in [00:10:00] corporate is you can't really step out and visit the people who are doing the things that you are thinking of doing.
so I was able to do that, for a year and, Once I had some ideas in terms of what I actually wanted to do, I,flew out to San Francisco,and found an apartment and flew back to New York City, grabbed my stuff and moved to San Francisco. all within, I think like a two week period.
so
Life Leaps Podcast: very slow, relatively speaking, and then all at once, yes, but, okay, so wait, my friend, you're not getting out of this whole one year thing. So quickly with me, I wanna know,and maybe this is just as a person who's recently begun, a sabbatical, arguably two weeks ago, cuz I, I quit the job in
January, but just got childcare last week. so now I just need to know and the world needs to know. Yep. so how are you spending your time?
You mentioned it as though you were trying to reorient from the external to the internal world, what did that year look like in that way? And was that your mission all along? what did you go into that year thinking you were [00:11:00] gonna do, and what did it actually become?
That was like a thousand questions in one. Just take any one of 'em first.
Kobby: Yeah. Yeah. I'll start with the last one. in terms of what were my expectations and what did it become? I generally tend to try to minimize my expectations. and so I didn't have a lot of expectations.
I just wanted to see, what would resonate the most, in terms of my contributions. And if it's joining an early stage startup, that would be great. If it's starting something on my own, that would also be great. Okay. but I think you really touched on behind the scenes, and maybe I don't think I even verbalized it, then sometimes you need a few years,exposed to really,put words to how your life was moving.
But really I think what was driving me was, a desire to reorient from externally driven goals to something that was much more intrinsic. and, now I can put, the phrase, to it really is [00:12:00] standing on your own two feet, right? and that was the beginning of that journey.
what I want to achieve, in life is to be able to stand on my own two feet financially, spiritually, philosophically, right? Politically, emotionally really say that. like this is my sort of philosophical, or this is my intellectual,understanding that I gained from myself.
Not something I was taught, not something that the culture is telling me, but,this is my intellectual framework of seeing the world, right? So that's why we have standard on your own two feet intellectually, standard on your own two feet financially. Is ob obviously being financially independent?
Stand two feet socially is really saying that, this is how I want to impact the world, and this is how I want to allow the world to impact me, right? In terms of social rel relationships. so I would say that now the phrase that captures that moment or the beginnings of that moment in that one year gap was [00:13:00] I was, learning to stand on my own two feet.
Whereas before I had always absorbed either the emotional, religious, economic or, upbringing from how I was raised and where I was living, right? My beliefs were given to me. They weren't, something I created for myself. and that's been the journey, but that one year was a big end.
o of that journey. It's
Life Leaps Podcast: sounds like you wanted to get to know yourself on your own terms, right? For sure. I think that is such a privilege to be able to spend your time in that way and to be able to do that, and I think so more than us, than are willing to admit, probably have pockets of that privilege and that opportunity to do that, and we don't take advantage of it.
I think we could sit here all day and say this guy had a whole year's worth of, he was able to live for a year off of savings. He was able to like, like I could never do that. This is [00:14:00] so this is a big project. I'm not saying everybody out there can do that. Most people can't. I get it, but I think we have more space to ask those kinds of questions and do some version, whatever our own version looks like of what you're talking about than we realize and then we're probably willing to claim.
Kobby: Because in some ways, for me at least, it's easier not to. Like even last week when we got childcare for the first time, I had been like kvetching the whole time. Like being like, I don't have time to, for soft reflection. I'm just watching the kid. We're moving, it's logistics. And then last week when those things were moved, I was like, oh yeah, I was like, now I have Several hours to myself. Yep. this is a little scary. Like what? Yeah. I finally have the thing that I say that I want, but there's a responsibility with that. There's a weight with that and Yep. It's a lot easier to go and find another logistical task that will quote, unquote, keep me away from figuring it all out, [00:15:00] extent figuring it out even applies, but, Yeah. Karen, I think you've really,hit the nail on the head, right? Which is, when we have a different, difficult task to do, we tend to substitute with an easier logistical, task, right? And that's a great example, right? Is when you actually get what you wanted. a lot of times we actually try to avoid it and give it back away to the universe.
I would actually say that, the, for most people, They can probably do five times as much as they think they can. and I would actually argue that most people can actually take as much time off as they want if they just apply themselves. but I think it, it's always important to recognize that,there's a reason why there are coaches in sports.
and a lot of the reason is that to get the best performance out of people, you've gotta push them. Most people will say that, I can only do x. But then there's a coach and they're teammates and they push you [00:16:00] and you realize that, oh, you can actually do three x. you can win championships repeatedly and those types of things.
so my, my, my sort of, I hear when people say that I can't do X, but I know within me that, most people can actually do a lot more than they can imagine themselves to be. I do think most people have that, capability. and I think that's the gift of the human spirit.
Life Leaps Podcast: and Ka I would say also maybe it's not even.
X versus three x. Maybe it's like you can either do five X's or you can do a y, you know what I'm saying? I think it's not, but it's not just like more, because I think for many of us, it's not that we're faking the fact that our days are filled with stuff and things, And obligations. It's more like the way that we've configured them and the things that we've chosen to care about and to spend our time on. Maybe that has to change to create the capacity to do one really powerful why.[00:17:00] there's some trade-offs, all that to say,
I dunno if it's quite as linear as Right.Did I hear
Kobby: you right? Yeah. It's just scary. I think. I think maybe what we're both saying the same thing, which is, I think most people have the capacity to reorient their lives. Yeah. so it's not linear, but it's you don't have to be stuck.
and if you're stuck, most of the time it's a mental thing rather than, you, you can almost always find a way sometimes with the help of others, but I think the freedom to orient, I think that's really what we're talking about.
Life Leaps Podcast: Yeah. All with all this X and y talk, I think you've got the bottom line, which I never expected myself to talk about.
X and Y's. Like I, unlike you my friend, I have never dealt in mathematics. Okay. okay. Kavi, what are your friend's family like? What is everyone saying when you make this chain? You, like you said, you've checked all the boxes, and then you you don't uncheck them, but you're like, now I'm just gonna leave these boxes here in the field and go move into my shared department in New York City, read, meditate, check out some startups.
[00:18:00] what is everyone else in your life saying?
Kobby: I, I'm still dying to know. sometimes you hear lots, bits. but I think, the analogy you used in terms of checking the boxes and then putting 'em on the side,I think some people found a jar in and unexpected, right?
and just,just didn't know how to process it. but, I,I'm, I've always wanted to know what people think. Okay? but, you hear again, you hear, little bits, from friends, what are you doing? but I think perhaps the attitude that you bring when you're making these changes, really goes a long way to assuage the concerns of people.
So if, if you are happy, right? if you make a leap and you're just immediately unhappy and it's coming out of you, people might be like, he's kind of crazy, but he's happy. and so it's, I think the way you show up really makes, impacts the way people react to some of [00:19:00] the leaps that you make.
so yeah, I was in a good place, I was happy, I was exploring,and perhaps maybe that helped people be a little bit more comfortable.
Life Leaps Podcast: Did you have moments of doubt during that year of exploration? You said you didn't expect it to be a year, right? what? Surely there were ups and downs throughout your days.
and we all know you emerged to form this thing. You're doing something very cool and exciting, and I'm gonna make you tell us about it in a minute. okay. Just as soon as I'm finished swimming around in this, Did you not have freak out moments? my friend, you're unemployed now living in a shared apartment.
Kobby: Just wondering around other startups, or were you just, do you just have that strong of an internal compass that you're just like, it'll be okay? You, I had a lot of doubts. Okay. I had a lot of doubts. and, Also because I didn't know anyone who had done it personally.
I didn't have any friends who had taken a year off or, I had friends who [00:20:00] from business school who were starting startups, but,I didn't know what their transition process was. and how they were managing it. I really didn't see the inner workings of that process.
I had a lot of doubts, cuz sometimes you would have, and so at that time I was also playing with different startup ideas, there was like a fashion idea that I was working on for a little bit. There were just different ideas that you were trying and testing.
And, when they don't work out or when you hit a roadblock, you just, it's a lot of doubt, right? You're like, what am I doing? Am I wasting time? Am I losing time? I'm not gaining the types of. Conviction that I wanted to get as quickly as possible. but then, so I think doubts are not a problem, it's just how you respond to it, right?
Every, yeah. I think doubts are actually normal, and actually healthy to some degree cuz it helps you From, going off too far, the deep end, right? so there, there definitely a lot of doubts [00:21:00] because it's just uncharted territory, right? Like, when are you gonna discover the pot of gold?
You don't know. are you gonna starve and die before that discovery? You literally have no idea. but I think the response to the doubt was perhaps what helped me through. and my response was always that, I'm gonna be fine. it's,I think even.
I had a Harvard degree and a lot of good work experience, so I always knew that I would be able to land on my feet if I needed to, but I think even as I reflect on it, even without that, I always trusted myself to be resourceful enough to find what I needed to do.
I started running a lot. I got into a lot of running. but I think I was had this feeling that, it's gonna be okay. it's just gonna be okay. so just, keep pushing forward.
Life Leaps Podcast: Did you, in terms of resources, were there certain, did you get a li you mentioned life coaches, did you get a life coach?
Were there certain, communities you joined, books you read, things that [00:22:00] helped build your support structures and idea generating it's gonna be okay. Energies during that time?
Kobby: Yeah, I was, I was very deliberate about, not joining communities. and and I think I, cuz I really wanted to have the space to hear myself clearly right.
And not hear others. And I felt that I had heard others, for such a long time that I really wanted to hear myself clearly. so I, I was very deliberate about. not quickly, getting integrated into, and I used to live in New York before, that second move. I had lots of friends, there, and there were tons of communities,to join, but I was deliberate, about,it's an expensive time off.
I, I really wanted to make sure that I heard, myself. so what I think I found a lot more inspiration from books,and,and self,[00:23:00] reflection.
Life Leaps Podcast: Do you have a top few books you can recommend?
Kobby: there's one that. stuck with me that I went over and over again. and, it was,there's a history professor, called Peter Green, just incredibly brilliant. And he wrote about,he wrote a book called Alexander of Macedon, about Alexander degree.
and I reflected a lot on that, in terms of, his journey, to really actualize,his dreams, Peter Green really humanized, uh, that story.
and I know a lot of people have different views on, the value of his work, which was,just conquest. but Peter really,brought a certain angle, which was, all that he was doing was from a sense of adventure to say that what lies next, right? And he was just keeping, he was just going,on and on,
so war for Him was really not the end goal. It was really what lies next?
What am I gonna find [00:24:00] on that next hill that I can't see beyond? And sometimes that alone is enough to get you to do a lot of things. Okay.
Life Leaps Podcast: So speaking of that next hill and what's next? Yep. yep. We all, you and I know what was next, but nobody else does that's listening. Okay. Or some other people don't.
So at some point you decide you're gonna start your own thing. Sounds like you did a series of things and Yep. what happened? what you mo you decide what it's gonna be and you moved to San Francisco, you decide that's the place you wanna do it. Like what, where, what's the transition point?
Kobby: Yeah. around the summer, I started,really thinking about,what I could do in the energy space just because it was, what I'd done before and I just realized that I was still very passionate about,its impact. and But then the other part of it is, my previous company, which is now a 20 billion revenue Fortune 500 [00:25:00] company, was started by two guys on a laptop.
And that founding story always percolated right through the company. Like it was like, like 30 years ago the company didn't exist and there were these. Two guys,
where over time it becomes something big and impactful. that all led me back into the energy space. And so I moved to, San Francisco and I found, I'm not an engineer by training.
So I found, two engineers and we played around with some ideas and, we landed on something, to start with. so we, at that time we had this vision that, every home was going to need some sort of, battery backup, whether small, portable or large. and,and currently that trend still continues.
So we started working and developing, a new next generation battery. we did lots of different, ideas and lots of different things. we were able to bring one of our products. so typically you [00:26:00] protyping, you build prototypes, you test it with customers. Does it resonate, right? is there a big market here?
and one of the products that we came with was, a USB charter that was actually 28% faster than what was set to market. so we rushed to bring that to market through a Kickstarter. And, we ended up selling out very quickly. it was,during that year it was one of,the most successful hardware,Kickstarters.
that whole experience was just amazing. It was,having thousands of people hold my product, use it every day, send me feedback, right? Working with different manufacturers and suppliers to actually make the thing. we ship to over 15 countries,
I was working like banking hours, almost a hundred hours, that year to get all of that done. But it was such a, growth phase for, for the company and for the team. and the other remarkable thing is we were remote, like my team was remote.
Because I couldn't, afford an engineer in San Francisco. so [00:27:00] we did all of this remote. We brought a product to market that customers loved. And, I still remember the day that we, went live when our Kickstarter and you set a goal for,
for the round. And we blew through that in a few hours. And we didn't Wow. Sleep. Like that night, that whole day, we were just up watching like people buy it, and people review it on YouTube, and it was literally like one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
So,I,that really crystallized, Kind of what I want to do, for the rest of my life is I want to build amazing products that people love and use every day,
there's just literally no better feeling than being able to impact people's lives. I had a really one sentimental customer or one sentimental note from my customer, he was like, so we quickly sold out other product and he sold, he sent a note and said, Hey, I love this product.
I use it every day. I'm 72. I'm gonna use it for the rest of my life. [00:28:00] Do you have more? And I was like, wow. that, that's a story you hold onto, when you're making, when you're making products. so today,we are building, next generation ev charging stations. but our electric really is.
Electric vehicles. Correct. so we're building chargers for electric vehicles. but our real mission is that, if we're gonna make an impact on climate change, we really need to get to a hundred percent electric vehicle adoption. And to be able to do that, we need to solve range anxiety once and for all.
just not having enough chargers, people worried about, can I make my trip? and Get back home. So our mission now is to, Accelerate,the reduction of climate change, by building the most reliable electric vehicle charger and electric vehicle charging network so that we can immediately solve the problem of ranging anxiety.
and our vision is that this is [00:29:00] gonna have a tremendous impact on millions of lives and,that's what, you know, gets us up every day.
Life Leaps Podcast: That is so cool. So two things. Number one, you realized you wanted to build things like that is what makes you tick. It is very clear to me. Yeah.
Like both from you saying it? Yeah. And watching you here on this video screen, like you are a builder of things and not just any things. Yeah. But you wanna build things that make people's lives better and make the world better and, You're totally doing that. Okay. yeah.
Kobby: Yeah. and I would say maybe that was the point of the whole journey, right?
Because I didn't grow up building things right. my dad is an electrical engineer, but I, as I was growing up, he was in management, right? So this goal of this passion for building things, even during business school was not there, or I didn't realize, I had not realized it,
it was really something that took a while to find.[00:30:00]
Life Leaps Podcast: When did you realize kabi you wanted to build things? Was it when you were already building them and you realized how cool it felt? Or was it like as, you know what I'm saying? Like you're, I like how you're just like, yeah. I had this year off and then I casually went to San Francisco, found a couple engineers.
I'm sure it wasn't casual, I go to San Francisco, find a couple engineers, we build this thing, which is a hit, and it was like that feeling that locked in for me. I wanted to do it. Were you just experimenting before that, being like, why don't I try to build some stuff like what, when did you know
Kobby: Yeah.
you always experimenting, right? Yeah. And until you have that external evidence, then it becomes concrete. we,I always enjoy the process of this is an idea. can we build it? Would it impact customers? Would people buy it? Is it gonna be profitable?
I always enjoy that idea, that process. And I think, if you ask most people would say yes, I love kind of playing with ideas. But the reality is it's an incredibly stressful process [00:31:00] of taking ideas to fiscal reality. There are lots of ups and downs. You worried about running out of money, you worried about whether the product is going to sell.
You worried about liability, you worried about like changing directions. So there's a lot of ups and downs and it's the ups, and you've gotta love the ups and downs. Or when you love the up, ups and downs. That's when you know you love what you're doing, right? Not just the idea of it, right? But when you love that process, of falling on your face, things not working, getting back up again, right?
Like building a team. I love the team that I've built. I consider them,best friends now and,I love that process, So the Kickstarter really materialized, the idea that I had of becoming a builder. and I realized that I loved the process, I loved the challenges. I just really,and [00:32:00] really accept that you're just not gonna be able to do something successful if you don't accept the challenges that come with it, right?
So now I know I'm a builder, but to your question, I would say I was experimenting before,and it was only after the fact that I was like, yes, like this is it, this is what I want to do and I want to, not just build physical things. Like right now I love the process so much that, what I'm building is it can be hardware, it could be software, it could be, music, it could be anything.
But I just love the process of, I have an idea, let's make that real. And what, everything in between that is what I've just grown to love.
Life Leaps Podcast: Wow. Okay. And you've got, like right now, tons of various products on the market. right now in terms of the EV charging, I've never heard the phrase range anxiety, but, and yet it makes sense to me because my understanding is one of the biggest challenges with having an electric vehicle.
I think a lot of people agree that is the way of the future, that's the way to go. [00:33:00] But a lot of the anxieties are where do I charge the thing? Like how do I charge this if I live in a city, I can't just plug it into my garage. I don't even have a garage. Like what? What if I need to go a cross country road trip?
there are real hard and fast limits and the US at least, Has not been as great about having these charging stations to really answer those questions. So it's so your, one of your goals is to create more of those, great charging stations so that more people can have electric vehicles, which of course will make the world a better place.
Is that
Kobby: it? you said it all there. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, it's,the over 90% of the EV adoption that we need to happen by 2030 hasn't happened. and so we've got a long ways to go, right?
and the backstory, to, to this is, I drove one of their first, Tesla Roadsters.
That was the first Tesla model, back in [00:34:00] 2009. one of my professors in business school,had a Tesla Roadster. back then, you drive it. It's a life-changing experience. You'd know that this is going to,in the future really change the way we live. So I had some prior exposure to, the impact of, of electric vehicles.
Wow.
Life Leaps Podcast: Okay. So my builder friend, you, where are you now? you're back in the Washington DC area. You have Yep. I think for a year or two been wor you tell me, been working on this latest and greatest building project and Yep. You're just full steam ahead. is that right?
Kobby: Yeah,we're, going to pilot, our product at a few locations, this summer.
so we've been working on it for, for the past couple years. we're bringing some new innovations,into,the ev charging, space that, I can't wait to show, to show the world. And,we've been fortunate to, Be [00:35:00] part of a number of entrepreneurial communities,in the DC area, that, has really allowed us to build together, right?
and that's just something that coming out of the pandemic was a personal phrase for me and a personal challenge is, let's build together, let's build with other founders. Let's build with other, developers. Let's build with others in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, so that,we can,accelerate the path of going from idea to products.
I advise a number of startups.
And I just wanna point out, you're this build together, work together.
Life Leaps Podcast: Version of Kabi approach by you is a far cry from the kabi of several years ago who really deliberately stood alone, didn't join these communities, didn't join these groups. And I think what that means is that you, my friend, feel like you learned to stand on your own two feet. You figured out what you wanted [00:36:00] and now you're ready to wholeheartedly and with a sense of self and groundedness, jump in with others.
But you weren't ready for that yet.
Kobby: Absolutely. Absolutely. when you can stand on your own two feet, then you can actually support others, right? You can carry other loads, right? without getting backed down. So I think with the benefit of hindsight, that was the process, right? Get strong first, then you can, actually contribute and help others.
so yeah, and I'm really enjoying this phase of building together. It's just so rich, but I also really respect the previous process of learning,to stand on my own two feet.
Life Leaps Podcast: I love it Because I think this often happens, we have experiences and it's only in reflecting upon them later that we are able to find the golden threads, the motivations, the themes, whatever, right?
Yep. yep.
it was actually only in reflecting that I [00:37:00] realized that's even what I had been doing
but there was not always that awareness.
Yeah.
Kobby: Yeah.Yeah.and, you know, the, the place of not knowing, Not knowing what you're doing, not knowing why you're doing it, not knowing where you're going, at the beginning of the journey, it's a confusing place. It's a place of stress.
But then once you go through the process a few times, you can actually come back to the place of not knowing, but now it's actually grounded in positivity, right? It's like you don't know.
But you're very open to what is coming, in, in a lot of spiritual practices, there's something called the beginner's mind, It's just saying that, hey, I don't know, but I'm okay not knowing. Whereas I think before we go on these big leaps, we don't know, but we're not okay not knowing.
So we really want to know and we're stressed, right? So there's sort of this, the circle comes together when we still come back to a place of not knowing. But [00:38:00] now we just have we just have incredible peace about it, Cuz you're like, I didn't know back then and it was okay. So even today, even though I don't know what the future is gonna bring,I don't know whether it's gonna be successful. I'm actually okay. And I, and then you can start to even start enjoying this place of not knowing, right? And you can start to be free. You can start to be creative because you don't know, but you're not bothered by not knowing. think of the amount of confidence that if you can just roll with that, I don't know, but I'm comfortable not knowing and I'm still gonna roll with it.
How amazing. that feeling is, and will you taste it a couple of times? You're like, wow, there's just a totally different way of living.
Thank you all for being here. We're a brand new podcast, so if you enjoyed it, go ahead and follow rate and review us in your podcast app so that we can know what you liked and others can find us. It would mean a lot. Last but not least, we'll keep you posted on brand new episodes each week when [00:39:00] you follow us on Facebook or Instagram at you Guessed it like LEAPS podcast.
Life Leaps Podcast: Till next time.