I Quit! Why This Successful VC Blew Up His Career to Find Purpose

Have you ever felt like you climbed the wrong mountain? That moment when you realize success on paper doesn't equal happiness?

Today on Mork Unfiltered, we dive into the raw, honest story of Sergio Massano—the Portuguese investor who walked away from the cushy world of venture capital to build an investment platform driven by values, not just profit.

Sergio, a former engineer and VC partner, wasn't just burnt out; he was searching for alignment. He opens up about how he redefined success, making two massive career pivots—including quitting a "lifetime job" at 25 to backpack across the Trans-Siberian Railway and, years later, leaving VC to found Altas, a platform focused on long-term stewardship.

This episode is essential listening for anyone navigating the "messy middle of success", especially those feeling the pressure to grow at all costs. Sergio offers a powerful, alternative vision for business and life that prioritizes integrity and community.

💡 Key Insights That Will Change How You Work & Live:

• The Uncomfortable Truth About Being Replaceable: Sergio shares the counterintuitive philosophy that you can only be truly indispensable if you are fully replaceable. Learn how this mindset frees you up for opportunity and builds resilient teams.
• The Problem with VC and the "Growth at All Costs" Lie: Understand why many European business owners would rather shut down their generational company and redistribute assets to employees than sell to private equity. Your business is not just a profit engine; it's a village.
• The Mid-Career Pivot Guide: Sergio reveals his ritual for revisiting his 10-year vision every year to ensure he never gets stuck climbing the wrong mountain.

🛠️ 3 Actionable Takeaways for Your Week:

1. Build Your "Safe Space" Village: When self-doubt hits, stop isolating. Immediately talk to your trusted family, friends, or coach—the problem is always bigger in your head than in reality.
2. Define Your Values: Gain clarity on your core values to make difficult life and business decisions easier, faster, and more aligned with your purpose.
3. Become Obsessed (The Founder’s Secret): The best founders aren't just smart; they are obsessed and can communicate that vision to build and retain incredible teams.

🌟 Hire Patrick to speak about Purpose, Resilience and the world of startups: https://patrickmork.com/speaking

Don't just climb the ladder the fastest; make sure it's leaning against the right wall. Click play and start leading your life with intention.

If this episode moved you or gave you a different lens on adversity and growth, I want to invite you to go deeper.

I wrote Step Back and Leap for people exactly like us. People building through chaos. People trying to find meaning inside uncertainty. People choosing purpose over comfort. You can get it here:
https://a.co/d/e4nd8RT

And if you want practical tools you can use today to strengthen your resilience, I created a short, tactical guide you can download immediately. It’s called The Mork Guide to Resilience and it is designed to help you build inner strength, recover faster, and lead from a grounded place:
https://aa5c-ea.systeme.io/resilience

Because sometimes the most powerful leaps forward start with stepping back, grounding yourself, and reconnecting to why you are here in the first place.

— Patrick

👉Download Morks Guide to Resilience: https://aa5c-ea.systeme.io/resilience

🌟 Hire Patrick to speak about Purpose, Resilience and the world of startups: https://patrickmork.com/speaking

Welcome back to More Unfiltered, folks!

This episode is one every founder needs to stop and listen to. We're pulling back the curtain on the single most critical, yet most messed-up, part of building a successful company: Hiring and Recruiting.

I'm sitting down with the legendary Amy Vernetti, who has spent over 25 years at the intersection of talent and impact, building leadership teams for startups and giants alike. Amy worked directly with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and has incredible insights into how the Google founders approached building one of the world's most successful tech companies. She even shares how she ran searches and observed how seriously they took recruiting, using an app-based feedback system immediately after interviews.

Amy drops absolute bombs on what separates a good recruiter from a fraud, why curiosity is your secret weapon, and how the concept of pattern recognition comes from interviewing hundreds of executives (she's like an LLM that's been trained for decades!).

In This BOLD Conversation, We Cover:

-The Larry & Sergey Lesson: Why they took recruiting so seriously, took the time to conduct a proper interview , and put feedback in the app right after an interview.

-The Hard Truth About Ageism: What startups are missing when they rule out senior, experienced candidates (HINT: It's historical perspective and wisdom!).

-Diversity Beyond Quotas: The perfect "alchemy" of diverse teams and how a good leader gets the most out of their team to spur innovation.

-The Biggest Founder Mistake: Why viewing recruiting as an "aggravating thing" rather than the most important thing they will do is a path to failure.

-AI and the Future of Search: Amy's take on how AI is impacting the industry, and why somebody who knows how to use AI is going to take your job.

If you're treating recruiting as a checkbox, you're already way behind. This is a leadership discipline. Tune in, take notes, and tell us your biggest takeaway in the comments!

If this episode moved you or gave you a different lens on adversity and growth, I want to invite you to go deeper.

I wrote Step Back and Leap for people exactly like us. People building through chaos. People trying to find meaning inside uncertainty. People choosing purpose over comfort. You can get it here:
https://a.co/d/e4nd8RT

And if you want practical tools you can use today to strengthen your resilience, I created a short, tactical guide you can download immediately. It’s called The Mork Guide to Resilience and it is designed to help you build inner strength, recover faster, and lead from a grounded place:
https://aa5c-ea.systeme.io/resilience

Because sometimes the most powerful leaps forward start with stepping back, grounding yourself, and reconnecting to why you are here in the first place.

— Patrick

Are you chasing the wrong version of success?

In this raw, solo episode of Mork Unfiltered, recorded from Singapore, I unpack a powerful mindset shift that could change how you live your life.

After flying 24 hours to spend time with my 81-year-old father for the 25th anniversary of Insead's Singapore campus, I was reminded of the real stuff that makes life rich: experiences over stuff, connection over convenience, and meaning over metrics.

Whether you're feeling burned out, stuck in the rat race, disconnected from your parents or kids—or just wondering what the hell it's all for—this episode is a gut check.

🧠 3 Things You’ll Walk Away With:

1. Why experiences—not possessions—are the true currency of a meaningful life
   (and how to create more of them starting now, even if you’re not jet-setting across the world).
2. How to reconnect with aging parents before it’s too late
   (and why being present for them might also bring unexpected healing for you).
3. A new way to define success that actually sustains you
   (plus a simple tool to assess your life across 8 critical areas—from health to relationships to purpose).

🎯 Why Listen:

This isn’t some feel-good talk. It’s a wake-up call to check in with yourself:
Are you actually living, or just hoarding?
Are your relationships thriving—or surviving?
Is your definition of success yours, or someone else’s?

You’ll walk away with clarity, motivation, and a powerful tool and proven framework I use with coaching clients to identify where you're thriving, where you're struggling, and how to realign your life with what actually matters.

✅ If you’re ready to stop drifting and start designing a more connected, energized, and purpose-driven life—this one’s for you.

💡 Want to go deeper?
Download your free copy of Mork’s Guide to Resilience—a practical workbook to help you apply these lessons and start redefining success on your own terms. https://aa5c-ea.systeme.io/resilience

As always, if this episode spoke to you, helped you and could help others, please subscribe, like, comment or share. This means the world to me and the team and helps the podcast grow and help others.

Until next time!

If this episode moved you or gave you a different lens on adversity and growth, I want to invite you to go deeper.

I wrote Step Back and Leap for people exactly like us. People building through chaos. People trying to find meaning inside uncertainty. People choosing purpose over comfort. You can get it here:
https://a.co/d/e4nd8RT

And if you want practical tools you can use today to strengthen your resilience, I created a short, tactical guide you can download immediately. It’s called The Mork Guide to Resilience and it is designed to help you build inner strength, recover faster, and lead from a grounded place:
https://aa5c-ea.systeme.io/resilience

Because sometimes the most powerful leaps forward start with stepping back, grounding yourself, and reconnecting to why you are here in the first place.

— Patrick