Malcolm Turnbull backs health start-up for burnt-out bosses

“In the technology start-up space, there’s so much focus on monthly growth and meeting expectations, but that means that other parts of our lives are often overlooked, and we neglect health, friendships and unfortunately even our relationships with our kids.”

Bhargava previously co-founded One Future Football, a fantasy football start-up backed by sports stars Steve Smith, Nick Kyrgios and Naomi Osaka, which last year had its valuation written down to $0 by major investor Blackbird Ventures. It had raised $3 million in funding.

One Future Football, which is still operational, is a global virtual sports league that simulates soccer matches with fictional players. Last year, the company laid off staff and Bhargava departed.

The executive said he left the company due to a disagreement in strategy, as well as a realisation he was severely neglecting time with his family members.

“After pouring my energy into building 1FF, I reached a point where internal differences in strategy and direction made it clear that the best path forward – for both the company and myself – was to step away,” he said.

Komo Club participants – Bhargav expects around 20 – will each pay a flat fee of between $3000 and $3500 for the eight-week program, and Bhargava is hoping he can build the platform into a significant business.

AirTree Ventures co-founder Daniel Petre, who is often described as the elder statesman of Australian venture capital, is a Komo Club mentor and said his wake-up call came with the death of his sister, which happened while he was working at tech giant Microsoft.

“It was a very sharp intervention for me,” he said. “I would just work myself stupid, I was in a super hardcore culture, and when my sister died, I saw that life is short and you’ve got to make choices.

“Venture capital investors, for all their handwaving, really only care about your key metrics and your revenues. There’s no voice of reason to say ‘have you really thought about this? Have you thought about your mental health?’

“Sadly for most founders, it’s an extremely lonely, bumpy journey filled with near-death experiences.”

Another Komo Club mentor is Cam Falloon, who was Princess Diana’s personal trainer and is now the CEO of BFT, a training studio that has 700 studios across 11 countries.

“I don’t think the program is necessarily about transforming lives in a very short period of time,” he said. “It’s more about making small but valuable steps along the way, and being able to hear from people and share from diverse backgrounds in business.

“I spent winters sleeping on factory floors, and I couldn’t afford heating, and not many people have the gumption to do that. There are many opportunities in business and entrepreneurship to quit, and hopefully this program will help in those moments.”