CEO claims 8 Silicon valley founders went on 'psychedelic self-discovery trips' and all of them 'quit their jobs within a year'

Psychedelic drugs have been utilized for spiritual and healing purposes across civilizations for ages. Recently, there has been a revived interest in its therapeutic effects, notably in mental health and self-discovery. People who have used psychedelic substances, such as psilocybin (found in magic mushrooms) and DMT (found in ayahuasca), describe experiencing altered states of consciousness, which can lead to intense introspection.

Psychedelics can have such an impact on one's mental state that some people make significant changes in their lives following a 'trip', such as the eight Silicon Valley CEOs who reportedly abandoned their positions after using psychedelics.

What did the CEO claim in the viral post about Silicon Valley founders?

Austen Allred, CEO and co-founder of BloomTech in San Francisco recounted this anecdote about the eight CEOs on the social media site X.

"Of the Silicon Valley founders I know who went on some of the psychedelic self-discovery trips, almost 100% quit their jobs as CEO within a year. Could be random anecdotes, but be careful with that stuff," Allred advised his X followers.

The BloomTech CEO remarked while responding to a post by X user Ashlee Vance. Vance stated that a venture capitalist informed him: "We've lost several really good founders to ayahuasca. They came back and just didn't care about much anymore."

In the post's comments section, Allred stated that he knew of eight CEOs who had abandoned their jobs after psychedelic experiences.

How did people on the internet react?

Allred's post went viral, garnering over 3.3 million views and hundreds of comments.People in the comments section speculated that the founders who resigned from their employment were already unsatisfied and that the psychedelics just exacerbated their underlying problems.