Enter Label: The Founder Who Left 60M on the Table—and How to Make the Power Pause Personal

& 12 tips for the Power Pause from Neha Ruch

Mar 30, 2025

Dear Companions,

The co-founder of Loom Vinay Hiremath went viral with a letter titled “I Am Rich and Have No Idea What to Do with My Life,” describing an identity crisis after selling his company for $1 billion.

He turned down $60 million in retention bonuses that would have vested over four years because “the trees spoke to me” during a hike in the Redwoods.
He left home to climb mountains, broke up with his girlfriend, and moved to Hawaii.
Now he studies physics 5–8 hours a day, hangs out in Discord groups with 18-year-olds who think he’s their peer, and is looking to intern as a mechanical engineer, even though he netted $60 million from the sale.

His letter ends with questions like: Why couldn’t I just leave Loom and say, “I don’t know what I want to do next”? Why do I feel the need to only be on a journey if it’s grand? What is wrong with being insignificant? Why is letting people down so hard?

I wanted to shout, “Hey, buddy, you’re on a Power Pause! And maybe you’re in the Healingvrse!”

What Is the Power Pause?

Unsurprisingly, given my excursions in the Manosphere, it's a man who helps me solidify ideas from The Power Pause, a book directed primarily at women (Thanks, K). Neha Ruha uses the term to describe the sometimes intentional, sometimes unintentional career pause mothers take after having children. Whether it’s 6 months or 12 years, a pause for family life doesn’t have to be a dead end. She outlines a feminist approach to rethinking that time and the phrase “just a mom.”

I’ll admit, The Power Pause made me shudder. I never wanted to identify with that plight; it’s a reason I delayed having children to begin with. I saw my mom’s struggles after my sister was born and vowed never to sacrifice myself like that. But here I am, experiencing the same things, perhaps even more intensely.

In my case, illness was the bigger factor behind my “pause,” but motherhood piled on challenges. I am sad to experience setbacks, but I tried to focus on the fact that I was not “out of the game.” I continued working on projects and to ideate.

While I prefer the term Healingvrse—a broader concept and ideology for rebuilding one’s life that includes anyone, not just mothers, the Power Pause does offer insights that helped me understand why I suddenly felt compelled to share personal details and churn out sometimes cringeworthy content.

Power Pause For All

The Power Pause can be used by anyone facing a life transition—whether you’re a parent, in recovery, or seeking new professional and spiritual direction in the age of AI. Perhaps due to the Jevon Paradox as recently discussed by

Tina He

, there are many new people who are pouring into the Healingvrse, grappling with human meaning. In the words of Mr. Miyazaki, “I can’t watch this stuff and find it interesting. Whoever makes this has no idea what pain is.” (Read

Erik Hoel

on the AI studio Ghibli if interested).

12 Power Pause Insights

Allow Yourself to Evolve
This includes elevating your experience and grieving your old identity. If you’re on a protracted pause, adopt an energizing job title for yourself just for your own record (not LinkedIn). “Healingvrse Chief Explorer” has a nice ring to it. Don’t worry about others’ opinions. Annie Duke the famous poker player said: the desire to maintain a positive self-image contributes to the problem with quitting.
“Right Now…”
When asked what you do, start with “Right now…” to keep your answer succinct. If motherhood (or healing) is your main focus, mention it alongside a side project or plan.
Finances
Sort out your budget, potential investments, or alternative income streams. Not everyone can afford a full-blown pause, so you can find creative ways to finance it. Meet for 15-minute meetings weekly. Define your money values (e.g., if there’s extra cash, where should it go).
Resign Strategically
Give as much notice as you can, facilitate a smooth handover, and show gratitude (whether you feel it or not). Keep networking (through alumni groups or LinkedIn). If you’ve already left, it’s never too late to rebuild impressions—just start posting about what you’re up to.
Update LinkedIn
While recruiters are more open to career gaps post-pandemic, they’re still wary of titles like “Stay-at-Home Parent.” I’m sure that this applies to health-related pauses too. Consider listing a consulting or part-time role—maybe unpaid but still in your area of interest (e.g., brand strategist). Include your approach (e.g., focused on woman’s or health consumer insights) and describe what you want to do in the future (e.g., to run a wellness world).
Redefine Success for Now
If your main goal is family, define benchmarks around that. If it’s self-exploration, set specific objectives, whether that means healing your anxiety (personal) or learning AI (professional).
Create a Week-to-Week Rhythm
Stay-at-home life can feel monotonous. Healing can feel hundred times slower. Neha suggests focusing on rhythm over rigid routines. Interestingly, when I was going absolutely nowhere with all the flares in pain, my therapist told me to judge progress week-to-week, not day-to-day.
Ask for Help
For stay-at-home moms, this means childcare—even if you’re not bringing in income. For someone in the Healingvrse, this means setting stricter boundaries or asking others to pitch in.
Network
For moms, that could mean local parenting groups. In the Healingvrse, it might be practitioners, fellow patients, or doctors. Neha points out that MIT research shows “moderately weak” ties often yield better job leads than close friends. Don’t assume you need some kind of super squad of close friends to help you.
Find a Friend
Partner with someone else who’s in a similar place to expand your network together. Schedule bi-weekly or monthly check-ins with measurable goals.
Find New Strengths
A blog, certification course, or new hobby might feel risky, but that’s part of using your pause to grow. Neha calls it brave in a culture measuring everything by productivity, pay, and profit.
Your Return
Research shows that when people do return, flexibility often matters more than job title.

Make it Personal

One point Neha doesn’t emphasize—despite having 200,000 followers—is that in today’s world, whether you want to do nonprofit work, start a company, or focus on your kids, you should be creating content.

This reminds me of a recent Paul Rudd interview where he joked about “missing out on the world” by not being on social media. If you’re deeply invested as a parent or in your healing journey, it’s easy to feel disconnected. Content can be the glue, a visual storyboard for your search for meaning, that also builds an audience, offers value, and becomes an asset in its own right.

Now I’m always telling friends in transition: start creating content. Sure, it can feel cringe, at times, even hopeless, especially with AI’s uncertain impact—but look at Neha. Building her audience likely helped her launch her book and her business, Mothers Untitled. Is she more deserving than you?

Gary Vaynerchuk often jokes that people don’t post content simply because they are embarrassed about how they look—and it’s probably true. If nothing else, your power pause should enable you to push past all of that.

From this perspective—the Healingvrse is a liberation point, a rock bottom, that enables you to be free from your ego. If you have experienced this, please tell me about it.

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