Tyler Wells spent 8 years building his career at an ad agency in Knoxville. Then brain cancer changed everything.

When he asked for basic accommodation during chemotherapy - just a lighter workload while his body fought for his life - HR's response was brutal: "We're not obligated to help you." They repeated it five times.

This wasn't some startup. This was a global company with "unlimited PTO" - the same policy they called "abuse" when Tyler actually needed it.

In this episode, Tyler breaks down:

• The moment he got his diagnosis at a coffee shop
• How "unlimited PTO" is corporate America's biggest bait and switch
• Why he had to work through surgery, radiation, and chemo
• The systematic betrayal that pushed him to independence
• Why network gets you started but process scales your practice

Tyler's original LinkedIn story went viral with 760K+ views because it validates what millions of experienced professionals face: corporate promises evaporate when you need them most.

Resources mentioned:

• Tyler's LinkedIn and portfolio: tylerwells.me
• Corporate Refugee Quiz: theretern.com/quiz
• UNRIGGED podcast: Subscribe wherever you listen

Samriddhi Chakraborty quit corporate in her mid-20s after watching her career become "a black box of templated synergy." Now she runs Evango Group in India as a "fractional everything."

In this episode:
- Her cold outreach to land client #1 (agencies wouldn't touch them)
- Why "timing beats fit" in prospecting
- Building fractional in a market that doesn't think it works
- The moment she stopped chasing "shimmer" brands

If you think you're too young, too old, or in the wrong market for fractional — listen up.

Take the quiz: theretern.com/quiz

60% of executives over 50 experience age discrimination in hiring. The system is rigged — but there's a bypass.

HR filters you out. Founders don't. That's the whole game.

In this episode:

• The LinkedIn/AARP data on age discrimination (it's worse than you think)

• Why HR is incentivized to filter you out — and it's not personal

• The fractional executive bypass: Talk to founders, not recruiters

• "Qualify hard, close soft" — the framework that actually works

• The David story: What founders really need (hint: it's not dashboards)

• Your first move this week — 3 companies, 3 problems, 0 applications

Key insight: HR filters you out. Founders don't.

Your experience isn't a liability. It's the product.

Join The Crew — where corporate refugees navigate this together. Weekly calls, deal flow, accountability. $99/month, 15 founding spots.

https://theretern.com/crew

Show notes: https://theretern.com/blog/podcast-001-age-discrimination-bypass