Why Walking Away from Tech Was the Wrong Move -- with Irna Hutabarat Athans

Irna Hutabarat Athans had an MBA from MIT, connections to VCs, and a front-row seat to the startup world. But technology felt soulless to her, so she walked away -- for years. She became a tango dancer, a poet, a world traveler. Anything but tech. Episode page with links, video, and more That decision cost her years of income and impact. The turning point came at a conference where she asked a room full of hotel and restaurant entrepreneurs what would happen to the families whose jobs AI would eliminate. Most couldn't answer. But one woman told her, "The fact that you asked that question is the very reason you have to lean into AI -- because AI is now driven by people who do not ask those questions." From there, Irna started using AI not as a search engine but as a thinking partner. She applied chain of thought reasoning to surface limiting beliefs she had carried for years -- about money, about success, about whether someone who loves Greek tragedies belongs in technology. Through those conversations, she arrived at a personal mission: to be a creator, creating something she enjoys, that people will pay for, and that makes the world a better place. We also talk about what blockchain actually is beyond crypto, why only 6.4% of blockchain VC goes to women-led companies, and why AI, blockchain, and quantum computing need more diverse voices building them.