The “most stressed” wellness CEO, with Calm’s David Ko

Masters of Scale

WaitWhat

Startups, Business, Mindset, Management, Bob Safian, Entrepreneurship, Diversity & Inclusion, Reid Hoffman, Jeff Berman

4.6 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2026

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does it take to lead a meditation company without finding a moment’s peace? David Ko spent years as CEO of Calm, one of the world's most recognized mental health and wellness apps, helping millions manage stress. Now he's stepping down. Ko unpacks why he made the call, what the relentless pressure of the C-suite really does to a person, and how to draw the line between the kind of stress that sharpens you and the kind that quietly breaks you down.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	On Masters of Scale, we talk a lot about inflection points, those moments when a technology stops being optional and starts being fundamental.
0:10.7	AI presents one of those moments, and behind every breakthrough, whether it's medical research or education or even cinematic visual effects, there's infrastructure most people never see. As the
0:24.0	essential cloud for AI, core weave is building that foundation. It provides a purpose-built AI cloud
0:30.8	designed specifically for pioneers at leading AI labs and enterprises ready to power the biggest ideas and the boldest ambitions.
0:40.7	Ready for anything, ready for AI.
0:44.1	To learn more about how CoreWeave powers the world's best AI, go to coreweave.com
0:49.2	slash ready for anything.
0:52.7	As your company scales, the hardest part isn't ambition, it's alignment.
0:58.2	That's why Atlassian built the teamwork collection, an AI-powered teamwork platform designed
1:03.3	to help teams move faster together.
1:05.4	By connecting Jira, Confluence, Lume, and Rovo, teams can easily align work to real business goals, plan and track progress together, remove knowledge silos, and access the real magic of AI plus human collaboration.
1:21.2	Visit at lassean.com slash team changer to learn more. That's A-T-L-s-s-S-I-A-N dot com slash team changer.
1:34.0	Startups grow in unpredictable ways, but your infrastructure shouldn't. Deal scales with you from
1:39.4	employee one to employee 1,000. Deal's real-time payroll engine cuts weeks-long cycles down to minutes,
1:46.6	and their global experts keep you compliant as you expand. Plus, startups can tap into perks
1:51.9	like up to $25,000 in deal credits and support programs designed specifically for high-growth teams.
1:58.8	Deal is the fastest way to hire, manage, pay, and equip anyone
2:02.1	anywhere. Deal, your Forever People platform. Visit D-E-E-E-L.com slash M-O-S to learn more and book a demo.
2:14.5	People will ask me at times, like, what is it like to be the CEO of Com?
2:19.0	Do you meditate all day?
2:21.1	And I tell them, honestly, no, I am the most stressed out CEO you will ever meet.
2:26.9	And the reason I say that is because every second of every day, someone is turning to us for help.
	...

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