Pohlson: Fear is short-term motivation that worsens decision-making over time
Matthew Pohlson · 20VC: The Science of Storytelling: Three Steps to Master the Perfect Story | From Near Death Experience to Unicorn Startup: The Untold Story of Omaze with Matt Pohlson · Jun 6, 2025 · at 23:11
Matthew Pohlson, co-founder of fundraising platform Omaze, reflects on how overcoming fear transformed his leadership and decision-making framework after a near-death medical experience.
0:00 / 0:11exact quote · 11.4s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“Fear constricts you, makes you focus on things that you think are threatening you, spikes your cortisol levels. Again, it can be very motivating, but Over time, it makes you make worse decisions.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Matthew Pohlson
Omaze's Subscriber Retention Rates Rival Netflix and Spotify
“It's right up there with the top consumer subscription companies in the world. I mean, it's comparable to Netflix, Spotify.”
Omaze Beat WME, CAA, Airbnb, and Groupon in Celebrity Campaigns
“At one point we were producing 400 celebrity videos a year, you know, and our team, like, figured out that process, was really good at learning from that process. Like, that's why we, like, that's why we were the only ones who did a celebrity that made it. We'…”
Omaze Targets $8B Revenue and Gates Foundation-Level Charitable Impact
“It's not our 10 year vision, but it's our 15 year vision, is Fortune 500 impact number one. The Fortune 500 is right now is eight billion in revenue to be on that list. Impact number one means the number one source of charitable funds in the world outside of g…”
Outlander's Sam Heughan Outgrossed Brad Pitt as Omaze's Top Talent
“Whereas like a guy named Sam Heughan, who's on a show called Outlander, which is a kind of a sci-fi romantic show set in Scotland. He's our highest grossing talent of all time, more than George Clooney or Brad Pitt or Matt Damon, or you name it, because he has…”
Omaze Spent $250K on a McLaren With Only $900K in Cash
“And so I, then I went to our CFO, Nina, and I said, hey, I think we should offer a car. We should go buy a 250,000 dollar McLaren, offer it with just a maze, no talent. Because if we could do that on our own, then we would control our own destiny. We would rea…”