How Letting Go of Ego Can Lead to Massive Wins in Business

Sometimes the biggest obstacle in your business is not your market, not your team, and not your tools. It is your ego.

I recently came across a story from entrepreneur Ashkan Rajaee that deserves serious attention. It is raw, personal, and brutally honest about one thing many of us quietly struggle with: ego.

If you have ever hit a wall in your startup or lost a deal you thought was a lock, this might hit closer to home than expected.

The Quiet Cost of Ego in Business

Ashkan’s story is not about tactics or tools. It is about mindset.

Years ago, he was running a successful Wi-Fi business in the travel sector. Things were booming. Confidence was high. Maybe too high.

When change came, and it always does, he refused to adapt. Instead of listening to what hotel partners were asking for, he assumed he was too valuable to lose. Within a year, the business collapsed. From financially secure to nearly broke. All because he overestimated his position and refused to bend.

It was not a business failure. It was a self-awareness failure.

From Rejection to $10M

Fast forward to a different company, years later. Ashkan gets hired, then fired, by a software firm that believed he could not close big deals because he was not “technical enough.”

On the surface, that is a low blow. But what followed is the real lesson.

Instead of letting pride get in the way, he picked up a call from a potential client. A client ready to close a deal. Instead of walking away or proving a point, Ashkan contacted the very CEO who let him go and asked to work together on the deal.

He swallowed his pride. And it worked.

That one decision helped him rebuild trust, reenter the company, and eventually build a $35M book of business. When the company sold, Ashkan earned $10 million from the deal.

Why This Matters to Devs, Founders, and Remote Teams

In the world of product building and remote collaboration, it is easy to conflate ego with confidence. But the two are not the same.

• Ego assumes you are already good enough.
• Confidence is knowing you can improve and being open to change.

As someone who has worked with remote teams, I have seen ego silently derail progress. Missed feedback. Rejected pivots. Personal opinions disguised as strategic direction.

Ashkan’s story is the proof that real power comes from dropping the ego and making decisions based on what is best for the business, not the ego.

Want the Full Story?

Reynaldo Dayola published the full story on LinkedIn, including both of Ashkan’s critical turning points. One that cost him everything and one that earned him 8 figures.

👉 Read the full article here on LinkedIn

It is worth the read whether you are a solo developer, a startup founder, or someone trying to level up their leadership game.

What is the toughest ego check you have had in your professional life?

I would love to hear how others have navigated this challenge. Drop your story below.