PodCrash with Matt Ebert · Sep 1, 2026 · 58:39
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Dr. Doug Brackmann is a psychologist who works with Navy SEALs, PGA pros and founders — and he teaches meditation by putting a rifle in your hands and asking you to hit a target a mile away.
He was a high school dropout living in a car. Now he's the guy those people call when the money arrives and the emptiness doesn't go away. In this conversation he explains the genetics behind the entrepreneurial brain, why 87% of lottery winners are bankrupt within five years, why hunting organizations physically cannot scale, and what happens to a founder's identity the day the phone stops ringing after an exit.
Matt gets into his own version of it — what he's watched happen to sellers through the Crash Champions acquisitions, and why the check was never the hard part.
Find Dr. Brackmann and take the driven assessment at iamdriven.com. Books: Driven and Sheep and Wolves.
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Get paid while you learn on the job at Crash Champions: https://step.crashchampions.com/
00:00 INTRO
01:50 Why entrepreneurs are unemployable
04:43 High school dropout who lived in a car
07:48 The alcoholism gene and the genetics of "driven"
11:05 Inside the driven brain: 9 to 13 thoughts at once
15:12 Hunters vs. farmers, and why school was built for farmers
18:54 The boredom gene and reward deficiency
21:46 What happens when you ask a driven person who they are
24:51 Why you can only scale a farm, never a hunt
28:21 Hiring farmers around you, and talking to your CFO
31:38 The wolf pack, the herd, and why drivens end up alone
35:32 Self-sabotage: 87% of lottery winners go bankrupt
38:37 Losing your identity after you sell the company
41:30 Trauma, somatic healing, and what the body records
45:36 Boredom is a lie
48:04 Sleep, willpower, and what meditation actually is
51:09 Energy, intuition, and the spidey sense
54:02 The shadow, Carl Jung, and the midlife turn inward
56:42 Where to find Dr. Brackmann and the driven assessment
58:33 Closing: the person he'd champion
Episodes: PodCrash with Matt Ebert