Rolex makes watches. But the real story behind the brand blew my mind.

Hans Wilsdorf, the man who built ROLEX, had no kids. When his wife passed, he set up a foundation — the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation.

He ran Rolex until he died in 1960. Then he did something wild: he gave all of Rolex to that foundation. Not some of it. All of it.

No shareholders. No family fighting over dividends.
The company makes watches, pays its people, reinvests — and the rest? It goes to the foundation to support art, science, and exploration.

It’s like he built a machine to keep doing good, long after he was gone.

I find that kind of purpose-driven thinking fascinating. It reminds me a bit of why we started UponAI — to build something bigger than ourselves. We’re working on AI voice agents that help people get instant, human-like support.

Of course, we’re not Rolex (yet 😄), but I love the idea of designing something with a mission that outlives us — something that keeps helping people even when we’re not in the room.