What happens when you build something you thought would work and then it doesn’t? And there’s no plan B.

Sutian Dong, Partner at Multitudes and Co-Founder of Global Women in VC, is fascinated with creating products, technologies, platforms, services, and communities that move humanity in a positive direction by not changing how we do things, but the way that we think and feel. After years of lucky breaks and things always just working out, Sutian found herself in uncharted territory when her original concept for Multitudes failed and she had no idea what came next. That moment of disorientation became the catalyst for profound self-inquiry that ultimately sparked the insights that created her new venture, Multitudes, which invests in and incubates ideas that explore the edge of human consciousness.

This conversation is a reminder that growth isn’t always a straight line and that the best ideas often happen when you give yourself permission to rest and reflect.

On this episode of Character, Sutian joins me to talk about:

• Why running a business is one of the rawest forms of self-expression

• The modalities Sutian used to move through processing failure and figuring out what came next

• Navigating discomfort to support your growth

• The relevance of spirituality in the modern world

• Using tools like astrology, tarot, and aura photography to access self-connection and build community

• The second-order effects of AI

• Multitudes’ approach to investing in initiatives at the edge of human consciousness

This episode was recorded at Love Letter, an aura photography studio, on the Lower East Side.

Learn more about Sutian’s work: https://www.sutiandong.com/Learn more about Love Letter: https://www.loveletter.nyc/

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 — The Power of Pause

00:52 — Meet Sutian Dong

02:10 — Childhood Dreams

04:17 — Growing Up Entrepreneurial

05:30 — From Structure to Self-Reliance

07:34 — When Success Stops Working

09:56 — Forced Introspection

11:50 — Feeling the Feelings

13:57 — Tools for Healing

16:35 — The Gradual Sunrise of Change

19:16 — Compounding Change & Self-Advice

20:58 — Redefining Venture Capital

23:01 — The Power of Belief Systems

24:08 — Following Curiosity

25:57 — Flux and Rebirth

27:10 — Searching for Meaning in Chaos