

Tech Founder vs. CEO - randyrayess
https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140606233550-88478769-how-a-founder-s-role-changes?trk=prof-post

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hxr99
This is great! I think one of the hardest things is to know whether or not the
tech founder is ready and wants to be the CEO of the company. What makes a
great tech founder is their ability to code and build things but a great CEO
is very different. What do you think is the best indicator of whether or not a
tech founder should stay on as CEO?

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randyrayess
This is a very tough decision as its hard for founders to let go and have
someone else come in and take control. Sometimes VCs have to force the
decision based on their own thoughts but I think the key is a founders ability
to inspire, motivate and manage people. The job of a CEO is very different
than that of an early stage founder who is heads down building software. If
there are 2 founders, the person who is more comfortable with the management
and leadership part should take over as CEO. Google got Schmidt to take over
as CEO before Larry Page came back. Sergey knew that he did not want to deal
with all the overhead that a CEO has to handle. Zuck on the other hand was
comfortable taking over as CEO brought in Sandberg as COO to help with
management.

I think the key is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each person
on the founding team.

