There’s no roadmap for closing down something you poured your soul into.
Edge Theory Labs started as a COVID-cousin project with Rob Church eand turned into a multimillion-dollar business. We pioneered a new category in the cold water immersion space. We broke records. We got into rooms and conversations I only dreamed of. And then, in what felt like the blink of an eye, we ran into challenges we weren't able to work our way out of. We ran out of cash. The clock hit double zero. And Edge came to an end.
This post isn’t about the business post-mortem (that’ll come). It’s about what it felt like to walk through the fire — the heartbreak, the letting go, and the unexpected beauty that showed up along the way. These are the six lessons I’m taking with me from what I’m calling The Crucible. I closely documented everything, thousands of words because I know that one day, I will tell this story. And that's something I offer for anyone going through it too – one day you WILL tell this story.
🎧 Want the full download? Listen to "The End of Edge" on the Find The Others Podcast where I share it all in depth.
WARNING: It is certainly my most raw and vulnerable episode I've ever recorded
1. Chunk it Down
When everything feels like it’s on fire, look for the smallest flame.
The debt, the layoffs, the conversations I didn’t want to have… it was paralyzing at times. But once we made the call with the board to wind things down, we adopted a mantra: “There are a limited number of hard conversations left to have — let’s take them one at a time.”
There’s something powerful that happens when you stop fighting the inevitable and start walking through it. It didn’t make it easier emotionally, but it made it simpler. One conversation. One spreadsheet. One lease exit. One apology.
Sometimes making it through the day is the win. That was our rhythm. Just make it to the next meal. Make it to the next meeting. Eventually, we looked up and the wave had begun to thin out.
And what was once unthinkable had become complete. Not without pain. But with peace. Focus on the task at hand and trust your future self to deal with the rest.
2. Doing the Right Thing is Rarely the Easy Thing
We could’ve ghosted. A lot of companies do. Shut down the website, let the customer service line go dark, keep selling warranties until the last minute.
We didn’t.
We made the decision to lead with honesty. We chose to drop the price and sell without a warranty as soon as we knew. We marked all tubs as final sale. We added not one, but two checkboxes at checkout confirming buyers knew there would be no post-sale support.
Could we have made more money doing it the other way? 100%. Could it have made our wind-down smoother? Absolutely.
But that’s not how we roll. Rob and I aligned on how we wanted to navigate this season – and we shared the desire to look back and feel proud and in integrity of how we showed up. That became our north star for how we would go about navigating situation.
And for the record: our customers showed up, too. Not all, but most. We had people thank us for being honest. We had tough conversations that ended in mutual respect. And even when people were upset, they could feel our heart.
3. Dealing with Criticism (and Hate Mail)
I knew it was coming. I was the face of the brand. I was in the ads. I was the one saying, "Trust us."
So when things collapsed, some people came after me directly. Instagram DMs. LinkedIn messages. Emails with subject lines like "You're a fraud."
One guy promised to sabotage any business I ever started again. Another called me a spineless weasel who gives God a bad name.
At first, it wrecked me. I wanted to defend myself, explain the nuance, make them see my heart. But that energy… it’s a black hole.
I remembered something my mentor Giorgio Genaus always said: Take no credit. Take no blame. Stay focused on your chief aim.
So I stepped away. I logged out. I breathed.
And I reminded myself: their perception is not my responsibility. My integrity is. And the people who knew me—really knew me—knew exactly how hard I fought to do this the right way.
Also, let's be real: people don’t send hate mail when they’re thriving. So I practiced my best to feel compassion for them, too.
4. Keep Two Feet in Motion, Two Eyes on God
This became the daily mantra. When everything felt uncertain, when the last glimmer of hope faded, when the deal fell through, when the board meetings got hard, this grounded me.
Two feet in motion: keep showing up. Send the emails. Make the calls. Keep moving forward, even when the outcome feels foggy.
Two eyes on God: remember you’re not doing this alone. Let go of the illusion of control. Surrender the outcome.
That doesn’t mean give up. It means focus on your part and trust that the rest is unfolding exactly as it needs to.
God has never made a mistake with me yet. I don’t think He’s about to start now.
This season deepened my faith in such a beautiful way, and brought me closer to the people around me. They say that God is the rock at the rock bottom, and I think about that a lot.
5. Redefining Failure
By traditional metrics, we failed. Edge Theory Labs is no more. We couldn't deliver a return on investment to our investors, which was one of the most challenging things. We couldn’t keep it going.
But by life metrics? We soared.
We pioneered a category. We helped thousands of people tap into the power of cold water immersion. We built a high energy, high performing team with one of the most bad-ass cultures. We spoke on stages. We shipped tubs across the world. And we learned.
Oh man, did we learn.
I now have skills I could never have picked up in a classroom. I got a crash course MBA in building, leading, and letting go. And maybe… maybe that was the whole point.
Maybe Edge wasn’t meant to be a hundred-million-dollar company. Maybe it was meant to be a sacred assignment, here to shape who I’m becoming. For the impact of what's to come.
That shift in perspective changed everything for me. From grief to gratitude. From loss to liberation.
6. The Price of Growth
Everyone wants to be seasoned. No one wants the seasoning.
But this? This was the fire. This was the gym for the soul. And like any good workout, it broke me down to build me back stronger.
I got really good at hard conversations. Really good at owning my part. Really good at holding the paradox of optimism and reality in the same breath.
And I learned that pain is a price we pay for growth. And sometimes that price is high. But the value? Immeasurable.
So if you are going through it too – just know, that you WILL tell this story one day. And you are becoming an experienced being. For which there is no substitute beside experience herself.
As my friend says – KEEP GOING!!
The Next Chapter...
I'm just getting back from some travels abroad and still very much in the transition space. There’s no shiny new thing to announce — no next big move just yet. I’m still listening, still processing, still rebuilding.
But one thing that’s been clear through it all: I’ve been here before. Throughout my time building Edge, I was also supporting other founders, leaders, and teams — leading retreats, designing experiences, and creating moments of realignment. Helping shape the culture and team operations based on how we worked at Edge.
That work continues.
These days, I am focusing on helping high-performing individuals, teams, and mission-driven companies unlock peak performance through energy alignment — without sacrificing well-being, purpose, or presence.
Through immersive offsites, coaching, facilitation, and the Find The Others podcast and community, I am creating the spaces to guide people back to themselves — helping them reconnect to what matters most, move through transitions, and create aligned, resilient cultures.
If you're in a crucible moment of your own, I see you. Keep going.
We don’t always get to choose the crucibles. But we do get to choose how we walk through them.
We’ll tell the story one day. But for now, we live it.