The universe whispers before it screams.

For me, it screamed on a rainy Friday morning in Warsaw.

Hun, wake up or else the kids will get late to school. Last thing I remember my wife telling me before I got up and ready to drive kids to the school. I had made a commitment with my wife that I will drive the kids to school on Thursdays and Fridays.

For years I was neglecting my duties as a parent and I wanted to do better. It was raining that day in Warsaw, but it was warm-ish. I dropped the kids off to school, drove to my land where we were getting the fence put up, it was a 30 mins drive from my house.

Drove back, and just as I was about 10 mins away from home, I fell asleep behind the wheel.

I had just crashed into another car at a very high speed. It took me a few seconds to realize that I had been in an accident, since the moment I woke up was post the accident. All I heard was a woman yelling at me, and me trying to “drive” my car so I can move away from blocking the road for other drivers.

The car wouldn’t move. Airbags deployed. Errors on the screen about check engine and transmission, as I kept pressing the accelerator hoping the car would move.

It wasn’t until a guy came up to my window and tells me: dude you don’t have tires.

Yup. My tires were not attached to my car anymore. Any attempt at opening the drivers door was futile, since it was jammed. My car’s emergency system had auto dialed 996 and I was shaking.

I called my wife, who thankfully worked 2 mins away from the spot where the accident took place. “I got into an accident and I need help” was what I told my wife, as she came rushing to help me.

I somehow managed to get out of the car. The car had 426 kilometers on the odometer, the folks I hit, had 512.

Both new cars, mine which I later found out through the insurance company was totaled. And theirs about 60% damaged.

I regret that to this day, since the couple I hit was an old couple and had just bought their first ever new car, after being retired. Yeah.

The accident happened around 8:45am. By 9am, the police was called and they told us that it could take some time to get there, since that morning there were a few accidents that occurred and one of them fatal.

My first reaction when we heard this was, crap. I have a meeting with my manager at 4pm today. Our bi-weekly 1:1.

Waited at the nearby pastry shop for the police and when I knew that I most likely will need to wait till the evening, messaged my boss that i still want to speak to him today.

My talk track to him? I’m good. This was a one off. Was probably tired, and i’m ready and continue to do my work and make sure that I keep delivering. There is nothing to worry about.

Got into a call with the customer right after that. Business as usual. My colleague on the call with the customer, told me that you shouldn’t be at work, you just had an accident, and I acted like nothing was wrong.

Everything was wrong. My behavior was wrong. My reaction to the accident was wrong. My need to tell my boss that I’m good and ready to operate at the scale that I have been was wrong. My need to worry about work was wrong. I was wrong.

Something that I didn’t realize that day, which my wife reminded me of later was that I was about 20 meters away from a kids school. And kids were walking to the school as I got into the accident. Had I not hit the car and went straight, it was almost a certainty I would’ve hit a kid.

That was the flash point for me. That 12+ hours workdays, slack being the top app on my phone, neglecting family, constantly working, worrying about work away from work, cutting holidays short to come back to work, answering slacks on holidays, blind loyalty to the company was not OK and certainly not something that anyone should strive for.

I had climbed to the top of the corporate ladder and didn’t realize I’d lost myself on the way up.

From the outside: VP title, great money, well-respected.

From the inside: Starting work at 8am. Straight through till midnight. US-based company, so meetings in the late afternoon when my brain was already fried from 10 hours of work. Then answering Slacks on holidays. Cutting vacations short to “handle something urgent.” Slack as my most-used app.

My kids would go to birthday parties on weekends and I’d stay home. Not because I was working – because I needed to rest from working so much.

I had my son when I was 22. I couldn’t wait to be a dad. But as he and my daughter grew up, I became someone I didn’t recognize. Someone who was too exhausted to show up. Someone who prioritized a 1:1 with his boss over the fact that he’d just totaled a car and nearly killed someone.

I’m not entirely blaming the job. I have obsessive traits. When I take on something, I put blinders on and neglect everything around me. But some roles amplify the worst parts of who you are. This was one of them.

The universe whispers before it screams. The accident was it screaming.

After the accident, it took me weeks of introspection, but finally I realized I had two choices:

Find another VP role and repeat the pattern.

Or take a break and build something of my own.

Option 1 felt safe. It was what I knew. And I tie a lot of my identity to my work, so going to another role would be the easy continuation of that cycle.

Option 2 scared the living crap out of me. It felt abnormal, uneasy, like a struggle. My fancy paycheck would be gone.

But the “safe” option meant:

• Another company’s vision, not mine
• Another CEO’s demands
• Another 12-hour day spiral
• More years I’d never get back

So I chose terrifying.

I started building Zarta – a knowledge management tool that turns videos into step-by-step guides and makes it easy for teams to find what they need through AI search. It’s something I believe in, and we’re building it for the long term.

But I also wanted something more immediate. Something where I could get back in the trenches and help companies win right now.

So I’m also building a consulting practice, but not the typical kind. I’m not the guy who writes a report and disappears. That’s never been who I am.

I work as an operator. Down in the trenches with your team, helping you actually win.

I don’t just audit your funnel and hand you a deck. I get in there with your SDRs, AEs, and CSMs. I help you close deals, retain customers, and fix what’s broken. I tackle both sides of the bow tie – revenue AND retention – because here’s what 13 years taught me: you can’t scale if you’re leaking customers as fast as you’re acquiring them.

Most consultants diagnose problems and leave you to fix them. I stay and help you execute until you’re winning.

What’s different this time:

• I control which battles I fight
• I choose teams I believe in
• I’m building systems that work, not navigating politics that don’t
• My kids actually see their dad

If you’re a B2B SaaS founder or sales leader who needs someone in the trenches – not another consultant with a slide deck – let’s talk.

I help companies $1-25M ARR build systems that drive revenue and retention. Both sides of the bow tie. And I stay until they work