In this special Collab Week episode of Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur, eight founders come together to answer one deeply personal question:

Have you ever been afraid to give something up, only for it to turn out to be a great decision?

You'll hear from Sheri Roder, Nicholas Cook, Brandon Pankey, David Beltran, John Lunsford, Raamon Newman, Drew Mehta, and Zeyno Dodd, as they each open up about the identity, title, plan, or old way of doing things they were scared to release — and what it gave them in return.

✨ What You'll Take Away

In this episode, you'll learn how to:

Separate your identity from your job title before a big leap
Use fear-setting to make a scary decision calculated, not reckless
Let go of "I can do it all" to make room for your team
Hold onto a long-term goal through years of doubt
Choose between two good ideas by asking which excites you most
Trust that letting an identity end opens the door to what's next
Ease into change gradually instead of waiting for the perfect leap
Drop the "perfect" plan and let your team step up when it counts

🎙️ Meet the Collab Week Contributors

Sheri Roder — Get UnStuck HQ

Sheri is the founder of Get UnStuck HQ, a career and leadership coaching practice built around her Stuck Spectrum framework, helping people navigate tough career decisions and creative ruts after her own 20-plus year corporate career.
Websitei: https://getunstuckhq.com/

Nicholas Cook — Money 101 Academy

Nicholas is the founder of Money 101 Academy and owner of Prime Land Properties, helping people buy land for a homesite, camping, or investment. He also writes at The Place Blog, and recently made the leap from a W-2 job into running his own business full-time.
Website: https://money101academy.com/

Brandon Pankey — Blue Pine Works

Brandon is the founder and owner of Blue Pine Works, an arboriculture and land stewardship company in East Central Minnesota. He and his wife Kay lead the company. He's learned to let go of doing everything himself so his team and clients can share the load.
Website: https://bluepineworks.com/

David Beltran — Accord Intelligence

David is founder and CEO of Accord Intelligence. Ten years into his IT career, he refused to give up on becoming an architect despite being told repeatedly he wasn't a fit — a pursuit that opened the door to IBM and, later, to building Accord's AI decision-governance layer.
Website: https://www.accordintelligence.ai/

John Lunsford — Tethral

John is the founder and CEO of Tethral, an engineer and anthropologist with a PhD studying how technology gets adopted. He formerly led AI and personal safety at Uber before letting go of a second viable business idea to focus fully on Tethral.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-lunsford/

Raamon Newman — New Mavericks

Raamon is co-founder of New Mavericks, a CEO leadership development partnership he started 25 years ago as a full-time meditating monk. His path ran from competitive running to monastic life to leadership consulting, letting go of each identity to make room for the next.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raamonnewman/

Drew Mehta — ThinkFraction

Drew is the founder of ThinkFraction, helping owner-operators fix leaks in their back-end workflows. After 20 years in corporate, he was terrified to give up its safety — so instead of a leap, he took a "leisurely stroll" into entrepreneurship, still finding out if it pays off.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhroovmehta/

Zeyno Dodd — AlgiSense

Zeyno is co-founder of AlgiSense, developing AI-driven EEG digital biomarkers to objectively measure pain. Across 25-plus years in healthcare, cybersecurity, and applied AI, she's learned to let go of her own "perfect" blueprint and trust her team to solve problems together in real time.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zeynoaygendodd/

1583: What's something you LET GO OF that was a great decision!? (A special fall COLLAB EPISODE!)

Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur | Start and Grow Your Own Business

1583: What's something you LET GO OF that was a great decision!? (A special fall COLLAB EPISODE!)