Paul Giobbi: High Tech Entrepreneur Starts "The Exit Club"
Diana Landau | January 14, 2025
The insightful Paul Giobbi joins Carl on the podcast for an engaging discussion on how to transition from being a Founder and CEO to "....someone not defined by my business card." As co-founder of Zumasys, Inc., Paul led his company to become one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the U.S., appearing on the "Inc. 5000" seven times and being ranked #1 on Fortune’s list of Best Places to Work for Giving Back. His company grew to $30 million in revenues and had 100 employees. Over the past few years, he's sold parts of the business, he’s stepped away from day-to-day operations and he’s gone through an enormous personal transformation. Paul is making a difference in his own community and the wider world, and he's been on an amazing journey.
Paul grew up in San Diego, the youngest of four children. His parents divorced and he went to live with his entrepreneur father at age 11. "That decision changed my entire life," he tells us. Instead of school sports, Paul spent his time working for his father's publishing and events business. From a young age, "I knew in my bones I wanted to be an entrepreneur."
After getting married and leaving the family business, Paul relocated to Texas to join Jones Business Systems. In 2000, Paul saw opportunities and launched Zumasys in San Clemente, CA. Besides all the financial success, the company was known as an employer with incredible employee engagement. "We realized if we were really deliberate about investing in our people and culture, it would correlate to our success at work."
Zumasys began divesting of certain divisions of the company, beginning in 2018 and then in 2021 and suddenly Paul had more margin in his schedule. Personally speaking the transition was not so simple. "When you decide to step away from your primary act in life, it challenges your relationships, your identity, your ego." He goes on, "There are a lot of things I thought I would do: serve on boards, angel investing, do more volunteer work, etc. But instead, I'm investing in others and moving toward a different direction without expectation."
He searched for mid-life transition advice to minimize the sudden isolation and lack of purpose. He couldn't find a group of his peers, so he started "The Exit Club" with quarterly in-person meetings, speakers, forward planning, and offsite retreats. Strong bonds were formed, and Paul found new direction. "'Retired" is such a pejorative term in our country......it took a while to learn who I am was not my business card."
Now 55, Paul and his wife split their time between San Clemente and a small town outside of Park City, Utah. After two childhood friends were diagnosed with aggressive forms of melanoma, he founded "Paul Walks", a non-profit that has raised $120,000 for melanoma research while he walked 1,000 miles. Over 200 people donated, participants walked on 5 different continents and Paul reaped benefits as well. "Walking has given me time to write, to listen, to be in nature, to slow down and just kinda be."
Paul's (un)retirement advice:
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"Choose to move through it, (the transition). Just be in it!"
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"Reconnect with old friends--there's such a value in those long-term relationships."
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"Mid-life is about living a life true to yourself and not what other people expect it to be."
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"I have a new card which says IAHTEO. I Am Here To Encourage Others."
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the "I Used to be Somebody" blog.
