Executive coaching for founders
Your personality isn’t who you are. It’s a set of strategies, and running them is expensive.
I’ve built and sold two tech companies. Now I help founders see how much of their day is being run by their personality, and what it’s costing them.
The idea
Everybody says “I’m hungry” or “I’m scared” and goes straight to the second word. Almost nobody stops to ask who the I is.
Justin Rezvani
I built and sold two companies from first principles. Now I use the same method on the mind.
First principles thinking means stripping a problem back to what is actually true and building up from there. It’s how Elon Musk builds companies, and it’s how I built mine.
First Principles Consciousness points that method at the self. Take away the strategies you run all day to control your circumstances, and ask what’s left.
The stressful moment is short. Replaying it is what keeps it running.
Researchers call it perseverative cognition. Worry and rumination repeat a stressor in your head before it happens, after it’s over, or when it never happens at all, and the body stays activated the whole time.
Personality isn’t bad or wrong. It’s expensive, because it’s a process that never switches off.
Brosschot, Verkuil & Thayer, the perseverative cognition hypothesis.
The four strategies
There are four strategies, and they all make the same move.
Each one steps out of what’s actually happening and into managing it: arranging, adjusting, escaping or judging. The costume changes, but the move doesn’t.
The deal
The world has to be a certain way before you’re allowed to be okay. So you work on the world. You scan ahead, and you hold the shape of things together because loosening your grip is when it falls apart.
The cost
Nothing ever gets to finish. The bracing that helps you handle Tuesday is still running on Saturday, and your system never gets the signal to stand down.
The deal
Your place in the room is conditional, so you adjust. You read what’s wanted and you supply it: an opinion softened, a need held back, a version of you that fits.
The cost
You’re running two processes at once. One lives your life and the other monitors how it’s landing. And the belonging you win goes to the edited version, so it never quite reaches you.
The deal
If this hurts, leave. Not dramatically, you just go somewhere else. You scroll, pour a drink, work late or start something new. Presence is where the pain is, so you don’t stay there.
The cost
Nothing gets dealt with. What you walked away from is still running out of view, and you end up paying for the feeling in instalments without ever closing the account.
The deal
This one feels like integrity. If you can establish who’s right, usually you, then the discomfort goes away. So you build the case, rehearse the argument and note the evidence.
The cost
The case never closes. Every verdict needs defending, and being right is a position you have to hold rather than a place you get to rest. The whole time you’re on the high ground, you’re not actually with anyone.
Everyone runs all four. The test doesn’t tell you which one you are. It shows you how much of your week each one has been running.
The Anti-Personality Test
Most tests tell you who you are. This one shows you what has been running you.
- 20questions, about real moments from your last 7 days
- 4strategies measured, with one overall load reading
- 0labels. It names the strategy, never the person
This is an example. Yours is worked out from what actually happened in your last 7 days, and it arrives the moment you finish.
Who I work with
I work with founders who have already built something big.
Real operators, often pre-exit or pre-IPO. I’ve been through two full cycles of raising capital, building and selling, so I speak that language. My job is to help you get out of your own way.
This is for you if
- You’re running a company at real scale
- You’re heading toward an exit or an IPO, or you’ve just been through one
- You’re tired of self-improvement that turns into one more thing to manage
This isn’t for you if
- You want to know how to start your first business
- You’re looking for a new label to identify with
“When you learn to have your own back, you stop negotiating your worth with the world.”Justin Rezvani
Colorado
About Justin
I’ve spent 12 years running tech companies, and I’ve sold 2 of them.
I’ve spent my career building systems that didn’t have a name yet. I’ve raised large amounts of capital, and I’ve been through the stretches where raising wasn’t possible. I’ve built teams and products, and I’ve sold them.
Now I coach founders. I work with people who have built something major and help them get out of their own way, using the anti-personality system I developed for my book.
- 2013
Founded theAmplify
One of the world’s first influencer platforms, running campaigns for Ford, Pepsi, Unilever and Lionsgate. Sold to You & Mr Jones, now The Brandtech Group, in 2016.
- 2017
Forbes 30 Under 30
Named to the list the year after the sale.
- 2020
Founded Zion
The first social network built on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, built for creators.
- 2023
Founded Modern Foundry
Verified identity infrastructure for governments. Raised $7.5M in total and sold to Modveon in 2025.
- 2025
Co-founder and CRO, Modveon
Secured the company’s first government contract, then moved to the board.
Featured in Forbes · CNBC · BBC · The Guardian · TechCrunch · Mashable · Le Monde · Daily Mail
In progress
My next book is called First Principles Consciousness.
It’s about the difference between your personality and the I underneath it. The Anti-Personality Test comes straight out of the book, so taking it is the quickest way to see the ideas in action, and you’ll hear first when it’s out.
My first book, Unapologetic Freedom, was a #1 bestseller in Politics & Social Sciences.
Working together
Coaching with me starts with a conversation.
Take the test
It takes a few minutes and gives us both an honest starting point, based on your last 7 days.
Book a conversation
We talk through your reading, where you are with your company, and whether working together makes sense.
Private coaching
One to one coaching built on First Principles Consciousness, focused on what’s actually running your day.
What has been running you this week?
20 questions about your last 7 days. Your load reading arrives the moment you finish.
Take the Anti-Personality Test