I would say that there’s a difference between a CEO or founder facilitating a group discussion to get opinions from people and making a group decision. And they might need to say, “Okay, ultimately, I’m the one who’s going to make this decision.” Sometimes that gets confused, though, because the group thinks they’re the decision-maker and that the

Sam Altman: The role of the CEO is basically to figure out and decide what the company should do and then make sure it does that. Many CEOs try to outsource those things. Sometimes they want to hire a VP of product or hire a COO and make him or her do everything. But really the CEO has to drive the company’s overall direction. There are a few other

Hiring a COO is not about adding a title to your org chart, but rather finding the background and experience you are looking for. Optimally, you want someone who will come in to complement, operationalize, and execute your vision as a founder. Many technical or product-focused founders want to (and should) remain focused on the product and overall

As a founder, you get a couple of shots on goal in your life. And you might even only have one for that thing you’re really super passionate about. I think good VCs now realize that if they’re going to ask you to go for the billion-dollar exit, then they have to be willing to let you take some off the table along the way. So I think the secondary c

A big part of the transition from “hungry, no product/market fit CEO” to “high-growth CEO” is realizing that the amount of downtime you have will continue to collapse. You will need to say no to things that you would have readily accepted before.5

But I think sometimes it can get confused with scenario two, which is when you are doing a set of things that you no longer like to do, and you have not found a way to get them off your plate. You haven’t found a way to get back to focusing on the thing that you are uniquely passionate about. If I spent 90% of my time in performance-review meetings

A common sign that an old-timer will work out is their eventual acceptance that their role and influence at the company will shrink in the short- to medium-term as the team scales, but that it will expand with time as they continue to learn and the company continues to scale.

Every founder has that moment of temptation: there is a big hole you want to fill. You have been looking for the right candidate for too long and can’t find her. Or, even worse, you finally find someone great for the role, but he seems borderline or outright bad culturally. The right strategy is to not hire the person. “If there is a doubt, there i

As the company grows and the organization scales, your role within the organization will change. It will become a lot narrower and more focused and this frustrates most early employees. But that doesn’t mean you’re having less impact, you are probably having a larger impact in a more focused area. So, you’re right, if you’re just heads down and do