This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Antons Davis, the 40-year-old founder of Touch of Humane and Osmo, and a former Nvidia employee, based in the Bay Area. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I’m a founder, entrepreneur, and life coach. I started Touch of Humane, an in-person life coaching business, and am the CEO of Osmo, an AI-assisted platform designed to help individuals become better coaches.
After seeing firsthand how little support coaches often have for themselves, I started Osmo in 2025 to turn coaching from a subjective, time-intensive practice into a measurable, scalable performance system that focuses on coaching mastery.
Before transitioning to coaching and entrepreneurship, I worked at Nokia and eBay, then spent more than a decade at Nvidia in Santa Clara, where I served as a product design lead until September 2022.
I quit my job at Nvidia to do work that felt much more human and meaningful
I spent more than 15 years in tech across engineering, design, and product development. At Nvidia, I was leading the user experience for one of the company’s flagship software products, collaborating with teams across the US and India to build cutting-edge experiences for gamers.
On paper, it looked like I had reached a major career milestone, but internally I felt increasingly disconnected from the work I was doing. A big reason for that was realizing I had already achieved the financial goals I set for myself as a kid.
I wanted to own my own home, support my parents financially, and give my family the peace of mind that comes from never having to think twice about everyday financial decisions. At Nvidia, I achieved those things.
What surprised me was that once those goals were checked off, I expected to feel complete. Instead, I felt like something was missing. I realized financial security is different from true fulfillment. I explored new opportunities both within and outside the company, but the experience only reinforced my desire to build something of my own.
I decided to quit. I cared deeply about the company, but staying just for a paycheck no longer felt right.
Leaving Nvidia was scary and exciting
I had no idea how things would turn out, but the idea of stepping into the unknown and exploring something off the beaten path energized me in a way I hadn’t felt in years. I knew I was walking away from a very comfortable career, so I wanted to do it responsibly.
I sold enough Nvidia stock to create a financial buffer that I hoped would last at least three years. My goal was to not put any financial pressure on my wife while I figured out what came next.
My close friends were supportive, though others questioned why I would leave such a high-profile, stable job. A lot of my confidence came from knowing I had already explored different paths and still felt pulled toward building something of my own.
My life now revolves around coaching people and building Osmo
The same rise of AI and technology that I once helped build at Nvidia is now causing more people to seek clarity and support through coaching. AI is going to make many kinds of work more efficient, especially repetitive or primarily knowledge-based work. Fighting that reality usually creates more anxiety than accepting it.
Instead, I encourage people to focus on developing the qualities that are uniquely human. The future is becoming less about what you know and more about who you are. Your ability to build trust, communicate with empathy, lead people through uncertainty, think creatively, and build meaningful relationships will only become more valuable.
In January 2024, I founded my in-person coaching business, Touch of Humane. Building Osmo felt like a natural next step, helping coaches support others during a time when human connection matters more than ever.
I essentially started from scratch
I work about six days a week. In the beginning, I wasn’t earning any income as I built my coaching practice. The financial buffer I had built gave my family stability during that transition.
Because of that preparation, we didn’t have to make any major lifestyle changes, which I’m really grateful for. It allowed me to focus on learning, building relationships, and discovering what kind of work I truly wanted to create, rather than constantly worrying about making ends meet.
I’ve realized that people put a lot of pressure on themselves to find their next big thing
For me, what mattered more was simply finding my next direction. I did not leave Nvidia with a master plan — I just knew coaching felt meaningful, so I leaned into it.
What started as virtual coaching evolved into in-person sessions, community spaces, and eventually Osmo. Sometimes the next chapter doesn’t begin with certainty. Sometimes it simply starts with curiosity.
There are definitely things I miss about corporate life
Starting your own company can be surprisingly lonely. One thing I took for granted at Nvidia was simply having people around: Walking over to someone’s desk to brainstorm an idea, grabbing coffee together, or sharing the ups and downs of a project. Those small interactions create a sense of belonging that’s easy to overlook until it’s gone.
I also have a greater appreciation now for the amount of validation built into corporate environments. There are managers giving feedback, teammates celebrating wins, performance reviews acknowledging progress, and people who notice when you’re struggling. As a solopreneur, much of that disappears.
Emotional highs and lows are much more extreme as an entrepreneur. There are days when a partnership falls through after months of work, or when you spend weeks building something that nobody uses. Then there are moments that make it all worthwhile.
I keep in touch with some former colleagues. Those relationships have remained important to me. I will always be grateful for the people I worked alongside during my years at Nvidia.
