What Business Without Soul Looks Like
A bts glimpse into an investor meeting that left me heartbroken
I walked out of an investor meeting recently with an ache in my chest. Three businesses had just pitched for expansion funding. The decks were polished. The numbers, impressive. But the vision was missing.
I know “heartbroken” isn’t a word we often use in business. But that’s how I felt.
Not because the founders were unkind or the ideas weren’t useful. But because I couldn’t feel a single pulse of soul in the room. There was no vision beyond scale. No grounding in purpose. No sense of legacy, lineage, or love. Just exit strategies and upward graphs.
This is what passes for business as usual in the traditional world of entrepreneurship.
But not for long.
I believe, truly, deeply, and without hesitation that every industry we see today will eventually spiritualize. Meaning: more conscious, more relational, more regenerative versions will replace our current unconscious ones. There will still be restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, skincare brands, and tech platforms but they’ll be infused with integrity. Built from intention rather than extraction. Presence, not pressure. Knowing, not chasing. A kind of devotional intelligence that sees business as a vehicle for contribution not a game to win.
And I know so many of us are already building this way.
Quietly. Thoughtfully. Intuitively.
Sometimes outside the system. Sometimes right in the middle of it.
The spiritually-led creatives. The founders with vision and feeling. The entrepreneurs who know how to build things that matter, we need you in the room.
Not to prove yourself or mimic old frameworks, but to model an entirely new paradigm.
Because the future is conscious. And it’s already underway.
Someone asked me recently how to get into rooms like that. How to be taken seriously as a spiritually-led founder. My honest answer? Start by knowing yourself. When you know your essence, your blueprint, your why, people feel it. And yes, the investors still want numbers that show the health of a business. But more and more of us are also looking for resonance. For clarity. For businesses that aren’t just relevant now, but that can future-proof themselves because they’re steeped in something bigger than themselves.
I personally won’t invest, time, energy or resources, in a founder who doesn’t know who they are and because I’ve been doing this a long time, it doesn’t take me long to see who has it and who’s still searching for it. When a business is built from deep personal power, well that’s the ultimate root of personal & communal abundance.
Maybe that’s you.
Maybe you’ve been quietly sitting with the next version of your business, unsure how to evolve it without selling your soul. Maybe you’ve been wondering how to grow in a way that still feels good. Maybe you’ve been holding a vision that feels too “out there” for the startup world and too structured for the spiritual one.
If so, I want you to know this:
You’re not too much.
You’re not too rigid.
You’re not too anything.
Your idea is already more than enough. Your way will work. You would not be where you are now if you weren’t already equipped to answer the call you’ve received.
The business world doesn’t want to admit that the old ways aren’t working anymore but we know better. We can feel the power of a clear pitch, the sensations of a fresh vision, the depth of a beautiful brand. Businesses in this new era have to be healthy, holistic and aware. Starting small is a luxury. Building intentionally is the flex. Generating clean money is the goal. One clear offer at a time then grow from there.
I do think about this all the time, what it means to grow with soul. What it looks like to be a conscious founder with both a clear, revenue generating model and a deep internal compass.
Of course, not everyone wants to grow. Some are blissfully fulfilled with their customer base and a simple, sustaining life. I love that. I bless that. But I’m speaking to the ones who do feel the call to build with soul and grow.
To create ecosystems that hold more people, more possibility, and more good. To design businesses with structures that evolve with us, not ones that pull us away from ourselves.
This is a different call, not better or worse, just different. These are the kinds of businesses I want to see in the room.
And maybe, just maybe, a whole new room will be created.
With gratitude & grace,
Jasmine
Up Next
Resonated with this piece? You might enjoy these next:
Erah Society
A space for modern seekers & founders.
Reimagining business, spirituality, and cultural well-being.
/ About this Substack
/ Instagram
/ Podcast
/ Business Hours
/ Watch Our New Show on Youtube
This is the soul aligned, deep meaningful energy I hope to bring as I grow my brand and platform. Thank you for beautifully conveying and supporting intentional founders creating business rich in life and vision.
Jas! so much resonance with this one. I would love to unravel this more on the pod, if you're interested in coming back?!
I have actually recently created a space specifically for the new business era. as you said, it IS so clear who has actually embodied this + who's still being influenced in the old paradigm. that said, I do feel a profound purity in spiritually led businesses that just lands - it feels like instant success. I know this resonance, but I too am still releasing some of the old paradigm in me. I wish it was an instant surrender - but here we are - in the void.