Uploaded July 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Welcome to The Quest Season 2: Episode 10 with Cameron Yarbrough: the founder of Torch.io takes us through his egoic journey, from retreats to starting companies, ashes and ashes.
While many of us were drinking our youth away, Cameron confronted one of the most difficult battles in life: death. He devoted himself to a decade of spiritual pursuit from the age of 20, working at a hospice and preparing for his own death ritual.
He then became a coach, sharing the lessons he learned with business executives in Silicon Valley. He later founded Torch, a leadership development platform teaching empathy, which has raised close to $40 million to date.
I first met Cameron at his clinic. I watched him grow into a startup founder, as I transitioned from building Atrium to beginning my inner journey. In this episode, we sit down to talk about our learnings from both ends of the spectrum: what it’s like to lose a dear friend, being a leader who can empathize with the pains of others, and coming to terms with our own death.
0:00 Intro
1:41 Buddhist bootcamps, from the heart of the cloud and cookie land
5:01 Cameron’s first meditation experience: silence and impermanence
10:02 Having one year to live and arranging your own funeral
16:08 Coming back to earth (clinical psychology meets Silicon Valley)
20:51 Torch: Right Livelihood, a leadership coaching and L&D SaaS
24:26 Losing Eric, a dear friend and Chief Customer Officer
32:13 Why go build a startup?
37:14 The Atrium post-mortem: what went wrong?
51:41 Find out more about Cameron and Torch
THE QUEST POD:
🎧 Join Twitch co-founder, Justin Kan (aka your favorite founder's favorite founder), on a quest to discover the human stories behind icons in tech, business, sports, music, and beyond. Let’s F**king Grow.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE QUEST MEDIA ► @FractalRadio
SUBSCRIBE TO MY ADVICE AND LIFE STORIES ► @JustinKanTV
LISTEN TO THE QUEST POD ON APPLE POD/SPOTIFY:
🔴 Apple: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-quest-with-justin-kan/id1533022759
🟢 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/7zLH9PYMRqjkvfgjGa4iHo
FOLLOW ME ON:
🕊Twitter: twitter.com/justinkan
📂 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/justinkan
📸 Instagram: instagram.com/justinkan
🤳 TikTok: tiktok.com/@justinkan
READ ABOUT THE QUEST POD IN PRINT:
👉 https://thequest.media
#Tech #TheQuestPod #JustinKan
Welcome to The Quest Season 2: Episode 10 with Cameron Yarbrough: the founder of Torch.io takes us through his egoic journey, from retreats to starting companies, ashes and ashes.
While many of us were drinking our youth away, Cameron confronted one of the most difficult battles in life: death. He devoted himself to a decade of spiritual pursuit from the age of 20, working at a hospice and preparing for his own death ritual.
He then became a coach, sharing the lessons he learned with business executives in Silicon Valley. He later founded Torch, a leadership development platform teaching empathy, which has raised close to $40 million to date.
I first met Cameron at his clinic. I watched him grow into a startup founder, as I transitioned from building Atrium to beginning my inner journey. In this episode, we sit down to talk about our learnings from both ends of the spectrum: what it’s like to lose a dear friend, being a leader who can empathize with the pains of others, and coming to terms with our own death.
0:00 Intro
1:41 Buddhist bootcamps, from the heart of the cloud and cookie land
5:01 Cameron’s first meditation experience: silence and impermanence
10:02 Having one year to live and arranging your own funeral
16:08 Coming back to earth (clinical psychology meets Silicon Valley)
20:51 Torch: Right Livelihood, a leadership coaching and L&D SaaS
24:26 Losing Eric, a dear friend and Chief Customer Officer
32:13 Why go build a startup?
37:14 The Atrium post-mortem: what went wrong?
51:41 Find out more about Cameron and Torch
THE QUEST POD:
🎧 Join Twitch co-founder, Justin Kan (aka your favorite founder's favorite founder), on a quest to discover the human stories behind icons in tech, business, sports, music, and beyond. Let’s F**king Grow.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE QUEST MEDIA ► @FractalRadio
SUBSCRIBE TO MY ADVICE AND LIFE STORIES ► @JustinKanTV
LISTEN TO THE QUEST POD ON APPLE POD/SPOTIFY:
🔴 Apple: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-quest-with-justin-kan/id1533022759
🟢 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/7zLH9PYMRqjkvfgjGa4iHo
FOLLOW ME ON:
🕊Twitter: twitter.com/justinkan
📂 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/justinkan
📸 Instagram: instagram.com/justinkan
🤳 TikTok: tiktok.com/@justinkan
READ ABOUT THE QUEST POD IN PRINT:
👉 https://thequest.media
#Tech #TheQuestPod #JustinKan
