A founder is the emotional energy aorta of a company. The energy that emanates from a founder attracts people and capital to the endeavor. When that energy goes away, it can feel impossible to do the job.
I didn't appreciate, coming out of corporate America... what it meant to a founder, the creator of the Macintosh, to be asked to step down from the very division that he created to lead the very product that he believed was going to change the world.
What being a founder means, is signing up for this years long grind on execution - and you can't outsource this.
I mean I wasn't a founder in the sense that I contributed anything scientifically but in the sense that I signed the corporation papers and, and owned founder's stock.
I think there's few cases in history where the C.E.O. steps down and is also the founder and reports to someone and that works.
Deciding whether or not to bring in an outside CEO is one of the most gut-wrenching decisions that a founder will ever need to make.
One of the perks of being the founder is that you get to build the company in your image.
It's not the work or the personality of the founder of a religion that's important, but what its followers do with what they learn.
I do think a founder has special permission to make sweeping changes across an organization.
A founder plays a magical role at the company: they invented or, as in my case, co-invented it. If and when a founder walks out the door, there is something spiritual that walks out the door, too.
