Cannabis and Fatherhood with Seibo Shen

June 21, 2026
By Jessica Reilly-Chevalier

Dad Spotlight

Name: Seibo Shen Location: California Occupation: Head of Innovation at 3Win Kids: 2 kids, ages 10 and 15 Preferred consumption method: Vaping

Cannabis and Fatherhood with Seibo Shen

“Cannabis takes away that desire to be right and replaces it with curiosity. Smoking calms me, makes me a more patient parent.”

Seibo Shen’s relationship with cannabis dates back to his college days, where he describes himself as an “all day, every day” kind of smoker. He loved the weed but hated the smoke, and made his first vaporizer in the late 90s to find a more skin-friendly alternative to lighting up. As life went on, cannabis remained by his side, increasingly so, until 2020 forced a reckoning that set Seibo on a very different path.

seibo shen family photo 2026_credit seibo shen

Cannabis Consumption Without Intention

Seibo’s open embrace of cannabis means it’s always normal in his house. “My kids have seen me consuming from a young age. I remember when they were really young, my wife didn’t want me to tell them what I did for a living. But cannabis is not a bad thing, and I didn’t feel I needed to hide it.” And he certainly didn’t, building a name for himself as a rising star at the intersection of cannabis and tech in Silicon Valley. On the outside, he looked hugely successful. He built five companies and moved on from each with a lucrative exit. But the demands of his profession were taking a toll.

“I had a hyper stressful work environment and I gaslit myself into enjoying the grind, working 70 to 80 hours a week.” To cope, he leaned on cannabis – heavily.

“It was both healthy and unhealthy,” He admits. “I didn’t think you could consume too much weed. I probably could have done better, but the stress was so intense, who knows?”

The more success he found, the more wanted. “I wanted to launch a successful company and be a present dad, but I had this voice in my head pushing me to get high more, to show people you could do all these things at once. But they were just stories I told myself.”

Finding a Different Direction in Fatherhood.

Seibo took a long, hard look at his relationship with the plant in 2020. During lockdown, his oldest turned 10, and he left the cannabis industry entirely.

Seibo had to ask the question that every long-time cannabis consumer should ask themselves. “I had to be honest with myself; was my cannabis use really helping me? I could barely remember certain stages of my kids growing up.”

The dramatic turn from constant travel to being at home with his wife and kids all day, every day made him want to back away from work. “I mostly saw my family on the weekends. Once I had to stay home all the time, I realized how much I loved being home with them.”

So he decided to leave the industry – at least for the time being, and build his life in a different direction.

“I needed to reassess the last decade of my life.” He said. “My first company started when my first kid was born. I was working 16 hours a day, trying to be a present parent. I always said in interviews I was doing it for my family, but I wasn’t actually there.”

Reassessing his cannabis use was part of this overall shift. When he examined the itch, he found something surprising. “I was ignoring traumatizing things and numbing myself out with weed. I, and the people around me, benefited from not being as type A when I was high, but I was overdoing it. ”

A long-time lover of the plant, Seibo came to the conclusion that a shift was necessary. “I’m still a daily consumer, but way less and highly intentional.”

The Intersection of Mindfulness and Cannabis in Parenting

For Seibo, cannabis is a valuable parenting tool when it’s consumed appropriately. He leans into the introspective side of effects, using cannabis to broaden his mind.

“My dad was a military guy, and I grew up militarily,” Seibo said. “I started raising my kids like my dad. He said, “Don’t cry, toughen up.” But when I said that, my kids fell apart.”

Cannabis helped Seibo sit with his own uncomfortable feelings around his kids’ reactions and change his mindset, rather than trying to change their reactions.

“I wondered what they actually needed in that moment. I was curious about what it’s like to be a small child and have a large man yelling at you.”

The space that was created with cannabis and meditation ultimately helped Seibo change his approach to parenting his kids.

“I grew up with manosphere-type thinking.” He said candidly. “I was small. I loved to fight. But I didn’t want to raise my kids that way. Cannabis made me curious to dive into things like child development and how their brains work.”

Broadening His Perspective With Plant Medicines

It’s that broadening of curiosity that Seibo loves in cannabis, for the ways it helps him expand.

“My baseline is argumentative. I don’t back down. But cannabis takes away that desire to be right and replaces it with curiosity. Smoking calms me, takes me away from that most combative version of myself. Cannabis makes me a more patient parent.”

The pause and space cannabis offers is crucial. “I didn’t want to pretend to play dress up or watch My Little Pony. But with cannabis, it helps me empathize with my kids, find their mindset, and be there.”

These days, Seibo is far from the ultra-capitalistic Silicon Valley entrepreneur he was before 2020. He lives on a plot of land he farms with his wife and kids, with chickens, dogs, and cats running around. They grow much of their own food, and Seibo shares deep meditation tips on YouTube.

“It’s been amazing to tap into these plants and realize that reality is not just 3D space and time. It’s atoms and quarks.” Seibo credits a combination of psychedelics, cannabis, breathwork, and intention for helping him realize what he describes as “quantum physics explaining different dimensions of reality.”

Still, as metaphysical as he can get, Seibo is still just a dad to his kids. “My kids are super disinterested in cannabis. I spoke at career day earlier this year, and other kids were interested, but mine were embarrassed.”

While he’s no longer in his rapid-company-building phase, Seibo is still a staple in the industry as the Head of Innovation at 3Win. He also reaches out to other fathers in his community. “I started a fatherhood group for men to find friends who were more emotionally open. I think a lot of men are yearning for deeper connections, and cannabis can help with that.”

He started the group back in the early 2010s out of a desire to find more people to talk to about cannabis. “I love being a dad. I didn’t hear a lot of people talking about fatherhood in an emotional way.”

His openness about his journey towards a more spiritual mindset is aimed at helping other men do the same. “Healed men make better fathers. My dad was a good man who always did the right thing, but he lacked the tools to heal himself. That came with a lot of anger and unpredictability.”

Ultimately, Seibo wants to pass down the tools of regulation, mindfulness, and presence to his kids.

“Cannabis was a permission slip to tap into my emotions, to be a human instead of Father.”