I recently read Paul Graham’s essay “Founder Mode”, inspired by Brian Chesky’s experience of leading Airbnb.
Graham challenges the conventional advice that founders should hire good managers, delegate responsibilities and then stay out of their way.
The so-called “Manager Mode”, which he describes rather provocatively as “hire professional fakers and let them drive the company into the ground.”
Instead, he explores “Founder Mode”, a concept that isn’t yet fully understood or studied. Founders still delegate, but stay closely connected to their organisations, including people beyond their direct reporting lines (like Steve Jobs did at Apple).
I tend to agree with him and it makes sense.
However, I also want to bring another angle into this discussion. Every company has its own life cycle, and as it grows and evolves, the way its founder leads will need to evolve with it. I’ve been thinking about something more tangible to explain this.
Look at an organisation as a human body, with its own nervous system.
In our bodies, the brain doesn’t consciously control every movement. Different parts can act independently, while the nervous system keeps everything connected and allows important signals to travel where they’re needed.
And as we grow, our nervous system develops too. New connections form, existing connections change, and the body becomes better at coordinating more complex activities.
Shouldn’t a growing organisation work similarly?
As a company grows, so does its complexity. The way people interact, communicate, make decisions and take ownership at 20 employees won’t necessarily work at 200 or 2,000.
And each startup and scale-up goes through these changes differently.
I believe founders who can recognise these different phases and understand what their organisation needs at each stage are better positioned to adapt their own leadership and grow the business. I’ve seen leaders in well-established companies manage this balance too, during my years working in large corporations. So I don’t think this is exclusive to founders.
My point is that growth and scaling don’t have to mean disconnecting the founder.
Perhaps one way to achieve this is by creating “an organisational nervous system” that evolves with the company. And keeps the founder involved without making everything dependent on them.
And that can be a healthy version of “Founder Mode“.
