colby

In October 2024, I left behind my comfortable life in America. I had an amazing job at a series B proptech company in Miami, I had great friends, and was making incredible money, but deep down I felt stuck. I felt that my dreams and ambitions were fading away in my comfort zone. I needed a change, so I set out on a personal quest: to travel the world and discover what the world needs from me. To discover what I can provide the world and what would give me fulfilment.
I’ve always aspired to build my biggest, boldest life. A life of meaning. A life that contributes something valuable to the people I share it with and to the planet I love. What I was truly chasing was Ikigai: the Japanese philosophy of finding one’s reason for being.That spark that pulls you out of bed in the morning. That compass that guides your decisions. That internal light that makes you question the meaning behind your actions. This is Ikigai!

My journey began in Thailand, a truly wild society. As I explored its southern beaches and northern mountains, I wrestled with the core questions of the Ikigai framework:

What do I love?

What am I good at?

What does the world need from me?

What can I be paid for it?

The intersection of those four answers is said to reveal your Ikigai, your “reason for being”. But what I quickly realized was this: I was not alone in my search. Everywhere I went, I met people from all walks of life and from every corner of the world searching for a life with purpose and meaning. Some had left unfulfilling jobs. Others were on gap years, questioning whether to go to college, what to study, or what kind of life to pursue. I met a 34 year old banker from Austria who felt trapped and decided to travel for the next four years. In Vietnam, I met a man who had cycled from Switzerland to Hanoi, searching for something he couldn’t define but felt he would recognize when he found it. What drew me to Ikigai and why I now feel called to share it is its beautiful simplicity.

It’s not about hustle. It’s not about ego. It’s about alignment. It’s about living a life where your passion, skill, service, and livelihood intersect in harmony. For the past eight plus months, the thing that got me out of bed each morning was the pursuit of Ikigai.

As I made my way across Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, The Philippines and finally India. Seeing the world opened my eyes. It made me realize that living each and everyday with purpose and intention is something that the world needs. In March 2025, I was on a train in Osaka. I was about to leave Japan, the land of Ikigai, when it hit me. I was in a conversation with Chat GPT and realized that these LLMs could be used not only for increasing productivity but also for increasing human purpose. This was the start of something profound: an AI to help you find your Ikigai. An AI that prompts you, not the other way around. An AI that prompts you to dig deep, seek undiscovered truths, to push oneself towards things that align with your goals and ambitions.

This train in Osaka was the start of what would become eekee.ai.

- Colby Weintraub

My Story