At a recent YC event, Brian Chesky’s talk challenged the conventional wisdom on scaling companies. It has become a massive meme. It struck a nerve with me and confirmed what I experienced over 40 years in business. I've built and sold businesses, invested and got involved with others. Recently, I was in a busienss that we grew from scratch, sold to Private Equity and saw all of this play out - advisors shoved down our throats, bad advice - mostly from people who do not know the sector or market. I got out quickly as I saw their behaviour on day 1 - riding roughshod over everyone, ignoring obvious points.
Back to Chesky. He shared how the advice he received 'hire good people and give them space' was disastrous for Airbnb. After studying Steve Jobs' approach, Chesky developed a more hands-on style that has been successful, as reflected in Airbnb’s strong financial performance.
Many founders echoed similar experiences, realising that the advice they received was tailored for managers, not founders. This highlighted two different modes of running a company: 'founder mode' and 'manager mode'. Unlike managers, founders need to stay deeply involved in key areas of their companies, even as they grow.
His talk revealed that there’s little formal knowledge about founder-led scaling. Founders have been left to figure it out themselves, but successful examples like Chesky’s show the importance of founders staying connected to their teams and not relying solely on delegation. This approach, while more complex than traditional management, often works better for fast-growing companies.
1. Don’t blindly follow conventional advice
The typical advice of "hire good people and give them space" doesn’t always work for founders. Be cautious when others tell you how to scale your company. This, for me is the. umber one rule. Advisors are often stuck in their own world. I've never had a 'mentor' or 'coach'. I've seen success come from NOT taking the obvious advice. Advisros are so often just group think people and you can find that stuff in seconds on ChatGPT.
2. Embrace 'Founder Mode
Founders should run companies differently from professional managers. Stay involved in important details and don't feel pressured to delegate everything. Yip. You're not playing the game you're trying to reinvent the game and get some edge. Oh and joint CEOs never work!
3. Don’t switch to a manager mindset
Just because your company is growing doesn’t mean you should operate like a corporate manager. Your unique insight as a founder is key, so keep it in play. Perhaps the most important bit of advice - as soon as you descend into managerial mode, you lose the difference you're trying to make.
4. Have skip-level meetings
Don’t just talk to your direct reports. Get to know people further down the line. It helps maintain the company culture and keeps you in touch with what’s really happening. Yip, walk the floor - listen and act. Introduce your customers to as many people as possible. I used to have a stations of the cross tour, constantly taking customers round showing them the production process.
5. Develop your own style
Try out unconventional ideas, people at Apple, to keep things fresh and keep the company agile. So important. Ring the changes and make it seem exciting. This does not mean silly team building events in escape rooms. Be yourself and don't follow leadership course BS about empathy being everything - it's not.
6. Watch out for professional fakers
Be careful of people who seem great at "managing up" but don’t actually bring much value. Make sure your team truly shares your vision. There's a ton of 'let me grow your business' and 'entrepreneur courses' around. They're largely BS.
7. Delegate carefully
As your company grows, you’ll need to delegate, but make sure you do it based on trust that’s been earned, not just because it’s expected. This is so right. Delegation is one thing, losing control or low performance is another.
8. Trust your instincts
Don’t let others make you doubt your gut feelings, even if professional managers or advisors disagree with you. As a founder, your perspective is valuable. I remember bold decision, like forking from code, switching out of our established sector - sometimes bold decisions have to be made.
9. Don’t misuse founder mode
Once the idea of “founder mode” becomes more popular, be careful not to use it as an excuse to avoid delegation. Also, watch out for non-founders trying to adopt it in the wrong way. When a PE company comes in you get a crop of largely useless 'advisors', often people from different sectors giving you sage advice - it's formulaic and never sage. In one case, in a hugely successful company, after hearing a series of these, I cashed out. The company is now run by spreadsheet bods.
10. Keep evolving
As your company scales, keep reassessing how you want to progress. You may need to adapt, but stay closely connected to the core vision of your business. This perseverance I've seen in people who love what they do and build over time. This is important. When AI, for example is seen as a productivity amplifier, get on with it, don't wait for reports.
Don;t be scared to get out when the money guys come in. If you're bought, take the money and go off and do something interesting. It gives you the freedom to do precisley that. Don't become a manager of someone else's business - you will hate it.
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