The pov I’ve been waiting for, and you totally delivered. Thanks for emphasizing self-awareness in particular—imho the key differentiator between extraordinary leaders/founders and everybody else.
my biggest takeway is this : The job of an exceptional operator is to teach the company to act like the founder at scale. You coudn't have said it any better!
Very good points. Basically founder mode only works if founders are willing and committed to becoming great managers (or, rather, true leaders) - founder mode is conditional to coaching mode :)
Thanks for this article. Couldn't agree more. The message about founders to be self-aware and to learn and grow (and adapt) is critical. We all know how that inability creates what I call "bonsai companies" that are in essence limited in their growth by the inability of the founders to grow themselves... -- Also, I think many founders are reading Paul Graham's article and saying to themselves : "great, I can be as much into micro management and following my pet peeves as I want, and I don't have to listen to people much, because by golly, I'm in FOUNDER MODE". Scary.
The pov I’ve been waiting for, and you totally delivered. Thanks for emphasizing self-awareness in particular—imho the key differentiator between extraordinary leaders/founders and everybody else.
This is great all the way from the title!
my biggest takeway is this : The job of an exceptional operator is to teach the company to act like the founder at scale. You coudn't have said it any better!
Very good points. Basically founder mode only works if founders are willing and committed to becoming great managers (or, rather, true leaders) - founder mode is conditional to coaching mode :)
Thanks for this article. Couldn't agree more. The message about founders to be self-aware and to learn and grow (and adapt) is critical. We all know how that inability creates what I call "bonsai companies" that are in essence limited in their growth by the inability of the founders to grow themselves... -- Also, I think many founders are reading Paul Graham's article and saying to themselves : "great, I can be as much into micro management and following my pet peeves as I want, and I don't have to listen to people much, because by golly, I'm in FOUNDER MODE". Scary.
Great article - thanks for sharing this perspective.
I really like your point of view. I also wrote something about Founder vs Management modes: https://www.productleadership.io/p/the-founders-mode-debacle
Awesome article.