Fired CEO Was ‘Microdosing LSD’ To Boost Focus At $2 Billion Startup

In an effort to boost his focus, the CEO of a $2 billion marketing startup said he was fired after it was discovered he was “microdosing LSD” while on the job.

Iterable CEO, Justin Zhu, was ousted from his position after he violated company policies, employees were informed in a notice on Monday, Bloomberg reported.

But Zhu told Bloomberg he was fired because he took the illegal drug LSD before a meeting in 2019 as part of an experiment where he was “microdosing” to increase his focus.

Microdosing involves taking small doses of a hallucinogenic drug, which is believed to benefit the mind, improve wellbeing or enhance the emotional or mental state, Medical News Today said.

According to the Journal of Psychopharmacology, a microdose would be only 1% of the active dose of the psychedelic drug.

Iterable co-founder Andrew Boni told employees in an email obtained by the news outlet that Zhu’s firing was over unspecified violations of policies and values found in the Iterable Employee Handbook.

Zhu was replaced by Boni as CEO by the Board of Directors, according to the email (via Bloomberg).

While Boni suggested that Zhu’s “behavior also undermined the board’s confidence in Justin’s ability to lead the company going forward,” he did say he was a “world-class innovator and creative thinker” whose “vision, creativity and passion will remain a core part of our culture,” according to Bloomberg.

Zhu, however, is not the first executive leader to experiment with LSD, as Apple co-founder Steve Jobs also experimented with the psychedelic drug.

In a public interview, Jobs had called LSD, “ one of the two or three most important things done in my life,” the Daily Mail said.

The San Francisco, California-based Iterable was founded in 2013 by Zhu and Boni, garnering clients such as DoorDash, Zillow, Madison Reed, Fab Fit Fun, Asics, and Opendoor. The company is valued at $2 billion, according to PitchBook, as reported by Bloomberg.