Founders & CEOs
There can be two cases when it comes to startups; first that the founder chooses to be the CEO and second is the case where the CEO is appointed by the founder.
In the second case, founders usually start their company and hire a CEO when things get going and handling everything by themselves becomes difficult. CEO’s do a lot of corporate navigation, formulate plans and strategies, basically with their experience they give a strategic outlook to the growth of a startup. Founders on the other hand, have a passion for their product which is a major driving force for a startup. Both are vital to the existence of any business, but when it comes to choosing between the both? What if for some reason either of them has to leave?
Of course, all businesses are different, and people may leave for different reasons. But VCs invest in founders as much as they do in ideas, so for a company to lose that passionate individual that the VCs initially trusted might send out bad signals. On the other hand a startup will lose direction if a CEO decided to quit.
If someone needs to go, who should leave? The CEO or founder?
There is an interesting read on the above topic at ReadWriteWeb
Regardless of the nature of the breakup, it got me thinking about the dichotomous relationship some startups have between founders and CEOs, and which, if either, is more expendable.
