Building Meaningful Connections | Jason Smith (Dad of 2, Klue)

Feb 5, 2026

01:05:41

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Jason Smith is the Co-Founder and CEO of Klue, an AI-powered competitive intelligence platform. He’s a five-time startup founder, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, and a father of two daughters. But his most transformative experience wasn’t raising capital or scaling companies. It was stepping away from it all to travel the world with his wife and kids.

When his daughters were just 8 and 9, Jason and his wife quit their jobs, pulled the kids out of school, and spent a full year traveling across 11 countries. We discussed:

Leaving work to reconnect: What prompted Jason to walk away from startup life and plan a year-long trip around the world with his wife and two daughters.
When things go wrong: Why Jason believes travel disasters make the best family memories and how they used setbacks to teach adaptability and problem-solving.
Building deep connections off-grid: How spending 24/7 together changed their family dynamic, from independent dinners to hard conversations.
Teaching self-reliance through discomfort: Jason shares his philosophy on preparing kids for the real world and why he sees challenge as essential, not optional.
From startup grind to dad mode: The binary approach Jason takes to work and parenting, and why he believes being all-in matters more than balance.
How his daughters see him now: Why watching their dad work hard, and then totally disconnect, influenced how his kids think about careers, failure, and ambition.

Where to find Jason Smith