Jake Kassan, co -founder of MVMT watches.
The kindness of Jake Kassan
When Jake Kassan sold his company for $ 100 million at the age of 27, he thought the money would make him happy. Although he did this temporarily, he eventually took his sense of purpose and threw him into the cycles of anxiety and depression, he said.
In 2018, Kassan sold its additional brand MVMT watches based in Los Angeles-the “Movement”-Movado Ua Grupa agreement Because of this, he went with multi -millioninth. A company, which started as a 21-year-old abandonment of collegeHe gave him the financial freedom he had sought.
“The northern star when I was younger, it was always financial freedom,” Kassan said CNBC Make it. “So my purpose, I always felt: I wanted to make money.”
“Then you sell [your company] And then … for the first time after years I no longer want to talk about MVMT, but I also didn’t know what to talk about, and I couldn’t find anything that felt as important as that entrepreneurial trip, “he said.” I think I lost the purpose. “
Today, the 33-year-old is working to restore a sense of purpose and redefining what happiness means to him.
Leaving Faculty has become a millionaire entrepreneur
As a child, Kassan said, he was never particularly good at school. Instead, he saw more values in making money.
“Academic, I just never did [well]. I’ve always been just just below average, “Kassan said.” Call it add (disorder of attention deficit) or whatever they want to mark as these days … I’m very good at being a hyper -focused and it’s to be a sincere strength and my weakness. “
“I discovered that if I was interested in something, I am extremely focused and almost obsessive because of this thing to the point that it will be successful, but sometimes you sacrifice other areas of life,” he said.
Jake Kassan with parents at the MVMT office.
The kindness of Jake Kassan
Kassan’s first “job” included the sale of a lollipop when he was in seventh grade. He has already gained years of business experience in college. Before the MVMT began, he launched the interactive job of a T -shirt in the dark of 2008.
At the time, he studied at the Santa Barbara Faculty of the Faculty, before he gave up after the first year.
“I just didn’t know why I was doing this. I did a routine, went in circles … After a year [going to classes] And at the same time, I gave up on doing this job, “he said.
Unfortunately, he said, that company, which mainly relied on the brick and mortar store, failed after the competitors took the digital approach first place in the space. But this taught him a great lesson that would be included in the success of his next venture: focus on the e-commerce.
Money influence on mental health
Until June 2013, Kassan founded the MVMT classes – who were engaged in online approach – with her college roommate Kramer Laplanta, and more than five years, two abandons gathered a million followers on Instagram brand, built a team of 45 employees and eventually sold Company for $ 100 million.
“Fully forward to the day that happened … Wake up and look at the Chase application you have always opened, and now you see your bank account looks like a phone number,” he said. “In some ways, a lot is changing. In some ways, nothing changes.”
It was great at first because I was just enjoying being in the moment. But at some point … he just felt like the Groundhog day. It’s like, there must be something more.
Jake Kassan
Co -founder, MVMT watches
Although he was able to afford a nicer lifestyle and help his friends and family financially, it quickly worn out, he said. Kassan, who had previously struggled with anxiety and panic attacks, said his mental health had worsened in the years after selling his company.
“It was great at first, because I was just enjoying being in the moment. But at some point … he just felt like the Groundhog Dan. That is so, there must be something more,” he said.
“As time went on, I couldn’t even start feeling that this void is growing in me,” Kassan said on his recent YouTube video. “I finally climbed to the top of my mountain, but I didn’t find what I was looking for.”
Jake Kassan, 33, co -founder of MVMT watches.
The kindness of Jake Kassan
Not only did he lose the sense of challenge for which he longed in his life, but he also lost the urge and identity, he said. On top of that, Kassan said, struggling to find the right person to talk to how to feel.
“I turned 30, I [had] I just went through the breakdown … I had friends and things, but still, I just found people who understood [how] Lonely felt sometimes … just felt emotionally exhausting, “Kassan said CNBC Make it.
“How do you sympathize with someone who is rich and depressed?” he said in the video.
Eureka moment
One night 2024. Kassan was on a trip to Australia with friends when he had a panic attack in his hotel room.
“I had panic attacks before, but this was … completely out of the left field,” he said. “I was the first I had for years. This flood of thought only [came] It was a really dark moment that just got me to crush me, “Kassan said.
Jake Kassan with his friends in Australia.
The kindness of Jake Kassan
However, after a few weeks of thinking, he realized that he should work again on something that caused him, gave him the purpose and a sense of true enjoyment.
“At one point, I think it might be after a panic attack, where [I said]: ‘Okay, I have to change focus and really start [work] More or less on showing, “he said. Instead of being so worried about the destination, he decided that he would simply begin to work as he did when building a MVMT.
“I think the gym is the best analogy for this. If you do not see the results after the first week or second week … When you actually start seeing all the benefits of your work for months,” he said.
He also learned that what made him so fulfilled during the construction of MVMT other entrepreneurial efforts to be creative. This discovery led him to zero in videoography and storytelling.
Kassan is working today to build your YouTube channel. He is also an angelic investor for companies on the side. The companies in which he invested include a prebiotic soda to Olipop and USS Company Truff.
“I can’t buy more peace,” he said. “It’s my relationship with money. I’m grateful for that. I appreciate it. I’d rather have it than I wouldn’t have it … but he can’t do anything to make me a happier person.”
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