When a founder retains disproportionate control in a startup past the time they are qualified to, leading to management problems:
-The organization is strongly identified with the founder.
-Staff meetings are held generally to rally the troops.
-Typically, there is
little organizational infrastructure in place, and what is there is not used correctly.
-There is no succession
plan.
-Key staff are typically selected by the founder and are often colleagues of the founder.
-Staff
may be chosen due to their personal
loyalty rather than skills or experience.
-Professionally trained and talented recruits, often recruited to resolve difficulties in the organization, find that they are not able to contribute in an effective and professional way
-The founder begins to believe his/her own Press/
PR-The company suffers from decreasing public trust.
-The organization becomes increasingly reactive, rather than proactive.
-The company is unable to listen to their own users, community or
outside experts.
-The company is unable to
learn from previous mistakes.
-The founder frequently tries to position themselves as a "visionary" in a market they are inexperienced in.
-The
CEO is often unable to make
tough choices related to operations such as removing inefficient staff.
-When challenged the
CEO assumes that users who do not agree with the
CEO simply cannot understand the expertise he/she has built.
Dan: Oh man, I wouldn't invest in that business that
guy has a bad case of Founderitis
Steve: What's that?
Dan: It's like when Ted ran Kik into the ground and bled that
unicorn dry...
Steve: Oh...
