Do Hard Things Podcast

Do Hard Things A Podcast With Gabe Lullo Ft. Yaron Vorona

Do Hard Things Podcast

Show Notes

"It's easy to father a child. It's hard to be a dad. It's easy to be a founder. It's hard to be a leader." - Yaron Vorona, Founder Coach and Former VC

Yaron has a physics degree and an MBA from London Business School, an unusual pairing that came from wanting to build technologies that lead to a better future.

He's since founded and backed companies in cybersecurity, AI, blockchain, and defense across three continents, made most of the classic first-time-founder mistakes, ran a company out of cash, and eventually crossed to the VC side before coming back to work directly with founders.

His diagnosis after years on both sides of the table… What looks like a strategy problem or a team problem is almost always a leadership problem underneath.

The hardest tension he sees founders wrestle with isn't delegation or speed, it's fear.

Founders usually already know the right decision the moment they're faced with one.

Fear is what sends them looking for evidence to justify what they're already scared into believing.

He calls himself a "dad venturer" on purpose.

A founder who can't manage their relationship with their family or their own body can't lead a company at full capacity either.

Nutrition, movement, sleep, and the people at home aren't separate from the job, they're the foundation of it.

"No founder has ever looked back on what they built and said, 'I wish I had spent less time with my family.'"

More from Do Hard Things Podcast

Oct 21, 2026

"People don't change because you give them housing. People change because they're given community, accountability, purpose, work, and people around them who actually believe in them." - Moe EganPreston and Moe Egan came to The Other Side Village from opposite ends of the problem.Moe grew up in East Oakland, surrounded by addiction and crime, and became a lifelong addict and criminal himself. He went through six or seven recovery programs and graduated from every one. Each time he relapsed. Then came his seventh arrest, and the officer who cuffed him was his old football coach. The coach told him about Delancey Street, and facing San Quentin, he wrote a letter begging for help.Preston has spent 30 years in nonprofit work and never lived any of that. He's upfront about it. His problem is with the systems around the work, which measure beds filled and boxes checked instead of whether people reach long-term independence.Together they lead The Other Side Village, a permanent community built on peer accountability, where residents run social enterprises like a donut shop. Preston brings the strategy and Moe brings the lived experience, and neither is enough alone.Recently Moe took a group of people who spent decades on the street to New York. For some it was their first flight. On the way home they asked him how to get a passport."People don't fundamentally change when they feel temporary... When people know they have a permanent place in the community, they start thinking about next year instead of next week." - Preston L. Cochrane

Oct 19, 2026

"None of us engage perfectly with technology when we're overwhelmed or stressed. You shouldn't build a system that requires perfect engagement in order to be useful." - Ellie Gordon

Oct 15, 2026

"If there's something I can do and should do, then I have a responsibility to do it. That is what I signed up for when I became a nurse." - Melinda Yormick

Oct 12, 2026

"It didn't matter what I had accomplished before, what I had achieved, what awards I had. None of that mattered. It only mattered what I brought that day." - Mary Crafts

Oct 7, 2026

"Don't make an assumption, ask the question. Ask your senior people two things: what's slowing you down, and what would make you consider leaving. That pattern is your real priority list." - Alex Seiler

See all episodes →