Portrait No. 001
Carissa Karban
Co-founder
P3CO, Inc.
Raised — Currently in a raise
Years ago, I entered a deep inner reckoning, moving through depression, suicidal ideation, and the slow dismantling of conditioned patterns I had mistaken for love and safety. I did the unglamorous work of healing, reclaiming my voice, and becoming unapologetically authentic. Choosing freedom taught me something essential: nothing is happening to us. Everything is an invitation. Existence is a game of consciousness, and every system, whether relationships, careers, or technology, is a tool we can engage intentionally. I’m building this company because I believe how we relate determines what we create. Why me? I’ve spent years practicing embodiment, emotional intelligence, and conscious leadership, not as theory, but as lived discipline. Why now? Because for the first time, the systems shaping our inner lives are programmable. As AI learns how to relate, we have a narrow window to encode wisdom, agency, and care before defaults harden into destiny.
In her words
“Fun and play are the gateway to joy, presence, and community.”
Chapter I
The toughest challenges you've faced as a founder.
Co-founding Astrapuffs has been an exercise in staying awake while everything tries to lull you back to sleep. I’ve navigated chronic funding scarcity, existential runway threats, and the familiar hum of old conditioning resurfacing under pressure. The voice that says be bold, but not too bold. Visionary, but palatable. Disruptive, but still likable. As a female founder, the standard is absurd. Lead decisively, but soften the edges. Speak clearly, but do not make anyone uncomfortable. Take risks, but never fail publicly. I have had to unlearn those rules in real time while building a company that challenges traditional incentives. We have run out of runway five times and each time found another way forward. Not through luck, but through creativity, relationships, and refusal to collapse. I moved to the Bay Area to fully commit, betting on proximity, focus, and velocity. I am backed by a deeply aligned co-founder, a clear vision, and an MVP that proves what we are building is real. The climb has not been linear or comfortable. It has forged conviction, stamina, and an unshakable belief. I know that this phase is building our capacity for what's to come.
Chapter II
Your vision.
I’m building a game that teaches people how to relate again. Astrapuffs is designed around a simple but radical idea. How we play is how we practice being human. Instead of optimizing for dominance, addiction, or endless accumulation, the game rewards presence, cooperation, emotional attunement, and care. Players build relationships with intelligent companions and with each other that evolve through choice, not compulsion. The problem I’m obsessed with is that most digital environments train disconnection by default. Astrapuffs flips that script. It makes kindness strategic. Curiosity powerful. Play a place to practice trust, boundaries, and leadership in low-stakes ways that carry into real life. The change this enables is subtle but profound. People don’t just consume content. They rehearse new ways of relating. Over time, the game becomes a living proof point that technology can strengthen our humanity rather than erode it.
Chapter III
The impact you want to leave behind — for your industry, your community, and the women who come next.
Thirty years from now, I want people to say this was one of the moments technology changed direction. That we proved games could train empathy, agency, and cooperation at scale. That we showed AI could be shaped to support emotional intelligence rather than replace it. I want future founders, especially women, to inherit permission. Permission to build from lived wisdom. Permission to be both rigorous and relational. Permission to design systems that honor humanity instead of extracting from it. If my legacy is that people learned to relate more consciously to themselves, each other, and the tools they use every day, then this work will have done its job.