The Elevator #005: Kevin Dahlstrom
"I had friends and colleagues who thought I had lost my mind because I completely changed my definition of success."
Kevin Dahlstrom is the co-founder of Bolt Health, a rock climber, writer on X, and the co-host of The Inner Circle podcast.
1 — WORK
What helped you make such a major change in your definition of success?
When I did my reboot, I had friends and colleagues who thought I had lost my mind because I completely changed my definition of success.
Bold moves, by definition, are not easy. Things will probably get a little worse before they get better. Hard things are the things that provide the greatest reward.
Most people won’t make a major change in their life to run from something. The best catalyst for change is when you’re running to something that’s irresistible.
How are you building Bolt differently from the companies you built before?
In the past, most of the companies I started were venture backed. That’s a double-edged sword. It is nice to have a lot of money to start a company. At the same time, it creates expectations and you lose control.
At this season of life, I’m able to start businesses and maintain complete control. It’s me and my two partners. I’m the majority owner, and we answer to nobody.
One thing I’ve learned over the years is slow and steady wins the race. There’s a ton of false urgency out there. Especially when you have investors, you feel this gun to your head to produce results quickly.
2 — WEALTH
What’s something you learned about money that you wish you had learned earlier?
To steal a line from my friend Mike Brown, money is just the fuel.
It’s only there to fuel the lifestyle. It’s important because you need fuel to go anywhere. But in most cases, you don’t need as much money as you think.
Too many people pursue money as an end and not as a means to the end. My whole message is to be really deliberate about the life you build. Surprisingly, most people have never taken the time to think about and write down the life they’re actually trying to build.
I have an exercise called the Ideal End State that’s aimed at helping people with that.
I stumbled into a climbing gym in 1999 and immediately connected with everything about climbing: the activity, the places it takes you, and more than anything, the community.
3 — WELLNESS
When have you made a major change in how you approached your health?
I’m 55 years old and actually more active than ever. I’m a rock climber, I do a bunch of other stuff, and I live in Boulder.
I was what you would call a biohacker way before that label even existed. I was doing things like hyperbaric oxygen and red light therapy 25 years ago, when they were considered extreme, bizarre, weirdo treatments.
One thing I’ve always done is track my blood work every six months. As I got older, I noticed a dramatic change in testosterone, and it correlated with fatigue, worse workouts, and not as sunny of a disposition. I tried everything under the sun to correct it naturally with limited success.
My doctor eventually said, “Kevin, I think you have a choice here. You can feel shitty for the rest of your life, or you can try testosterone therapy and see what it does.”
Within weeks, it gave me a second lease on life. I became kind of an evangelist, went deep down the rabbit hole, and that was the genesis of Bolt Health.
4 — WISDOM
How do you build relationships that improve your life?
I’m a big believer in serendipity. I spend a lot of time writing on X because it’s the best serendipity engine ever built. Most of the great things in my life now have either directly resulted from or been influenced by the community on X. It’s been life-changing, often in the most unexpected ways.
Be deliberate about doing things that increase your surface area for serendipity, even if there’s not an immediate payoff. If you keep doing that, it compounds very rapidly.
What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs who are also parents?
As a parent, it’s actually okay to be a little bit selfish. In fact, it’s a good thing. Kids need to see that you have things you’re passionate about and that you set boundaries on your work, and even on your family time.
I came up with a concept I call the three lives.
As a family man, you have your life as an individual, your life as a couple, and your life as a family.
What happens to a lot of guys when they get married and have kids is they sacrifice their life as an individual, and sometimes their life as a couple. All they live is the life as a family.
That’s dangerous because it’s a disservice to your family. If you’re not taking care of yourself, you can’t show up at your best for others.
The best way to parent is through modeling. Kids hear almost nothing you say, but they see everything you do. They need to see that you’re maintaining your own life.
5 — WHAT’S NEXT?
What does your next chapter look like?
The goal in life is not to retire. It’s to build a life that you just want to live forever.
I’m proud to say that through a lot of work and time, I’m living it today. My life is mega dialed. I pinch myself every day. Almost everything I do is something I’m truly passionate about. I have control of my time, and I live in an amazing place.
I say that not to brag, but to say that’s the result of a lot of deliberate effort and learning a lot of things the hard way. The biggest change for us is that we just became empty nesters. It’s a process of constant refinement.
People and Resources Mentioned
Bolt Health | Kevin on X | Ideal End State | The Inner Circle podcast | Mike Brown | Baby Bathwater Institute
Rooftop — Interviewing 100 Founders
I’m interviewing 100 founders about how they are learning to build lives bigger than their businesses. Each person who joins for a ride is added to a private group chat to discuss these topics.
Meet more thoughtful founders through The Elevator interviews.
Nominate someone whose story deserves to be shared.
Share this interview with someone who would appreciate it.