Why Founders Should Stay in Founder Mode (Even After Hiring)

If you’re a founder (or considering becoming one), you’ve probably heard the advice: build to scale. Hire the right people, delegate tasks, and free yourself up to focus on the big picture. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this advice (no one expects you to carry the weight of your company on your shoulders forever), but it’s missing a crucial piece of the story… there’s a danger in stepping back too soon. Enter: Founder Mode.

In “Founder Mode” (as opposed to “Manager Mode”), as Paul Graham describes it, you’re not just leading the company but living it… doing whatever it takes to make things work. This state of deep involvement is what fuels your startup’s early growth. But as your company starts to scale, many founders feel the pressure (or desire, depending on the type of founder) to distance themselves from the everyday operations, especially after hiring key leaders. 

For hyper-growth startups, there’s almost always a stage when “the adults enter the room” and start pressuring founders to hire a managerial class full of former consultants, MBAs, and corporate managers.

Brian Chesky of Airbnb went pretty viral denouncing this move as being what has slowed Airbnb’s growth these last few years.

“The less hands-on I was, the more I got sucked into problems. And by the time I got sucked into a problem, it was like 10 times as much work,” Chesky said on the podcast.

Instead, he decided: “I’m going to be involved in every single detail. And Airbnb is not going to do anything more than I can personally focus on.”

Paul Graham, legendary Y Combinator investor, summed up Brian’s take like this:

“The audience at [the event at which Chesky spoke] included a lot of the most successful founders we’ve funded, and one after another said that the same thing had happened to them. They’d been given the same advice about how to run their companies as they grew, but instead of helping their companies, it had damaged them.

Why was everyone telling these founders the wrong thing? That was the big mystery to me. And after mulling it over for a bit I figured out the answer: what they were being told was how to run a company you hadn’t founded — how to run a company if you’re merely a professional manager. But this m.o. is so much less effective that to founders it feels broken. There are things founders can do that managers can’t, and not doing them feels wrong to founders, because it is.”

I don’t know that the obsessive founder (see: Jobs, Steve or Musk, Elon) playbook is for everyone (or every company), but there’s super valuable insight from this conversation for every startup and founder. Here’s where we come down:

Delegation Is Key, But Don’t Lose Your Leverage

A common mistake we’ve seen with founders we’ve worked with is the misconception that once a VP of sales or other leadership hires are made, the founder(s) can step back and leave that department entirely in their hands. No one wants to be micromanaged. You hired a leader to own that department/function, and you need to give them the agency to do so. BUT, that does not mean you should completely remove yourself from that function. You just have to insert yourself where your leverage is highest. 

Take sales as an example. SaaStr’s founder Jason Lemkin recently noted on LinkedIn that “too many founder CEOs exit sales once they hire a VP of Sales. That’s bad for both of you.”

Founders too often peace out after hiring a VP of sales, assuming their involvement is no longer necessary in the pitching and closing process.

The truth is, founders still need to be plugged into key activities where their influence is strongest. You certainly won’t be prospecting and doing introductory calls as you scale, but you can be the cleanup hitter that closes the big deals when it gets down to it.

Your role as the founder changes, but it doesn’t disappear. You can — and should — delegate more, but you have to remain involved in the areas that give you the most leverage. Founders are typically the face of the company, the visionary, and often the best person to sell the dream in the early days. In these critical areas, your presence is still necessary as you grow (and tbh, kinda always).

Daniel Priestly has a great term for this: “key person of influence.” Your role as the founder once the company is up, running and scaling is to become a key person of influence. That means writing, posting to social media, networking, going on podcasts, etc. to act as the chief brand ambassador for your company. Key persons of influence are recognized for their expertise, authority, and ability to attract opportunities — all things you ought to be doing as a founder. Once you’re out of startup infancy, these are many of the areas where you are the highest leverage contributor… so focus on them more.

The bottom line is one of the biggest mistakes founders make is pulling away too soon from the activities where your direct involvement is key to success.

The Myth of Control and Freedom

I’m fond of the equation “Happiness = Reality – Expectations.” When you expect something to go one way and it falls way short of that… that’s where disappointment, resentment… just general unhappiness creeps in.

I see that a lot with founders’ lifestyles.

The myth is that founding a company immediately gives you control of your schedule, workload, and, by extension, your life. A lot of entrepreneurs dive into this journey with the idea that by becoming their own boss, they’ll gain more autonomy over their time and decisions.

That can be true, but it almost never is early on. 

Yes, you will rise from the ashes, but the burning comes first. 

Running a company, especially in the first few years, demands more time, focus, and energy than most other jobs. In fact, this “founder mentality” isn’t just a state of mind — it’s an expectation. You won’t have the luxury to step back or feel entirely in control until you’ve done the heavy lifting.

So, have realistic expectations about how hard it’s going to be. That way, your reality doesn’t fall short of lofty hopes and dreams, leaving you feeling pissed off or burnt out.

Founder Mode: A Balancing Act

So, where’s the middle ground? Founder Mode doesn’t mean doing everything yourself forever — but it does mean knowing where your involvement has the highest impact. It’s about staying involved in key areas even as you build a team around you.

One of the smartest moves a founder can make is recognizing that their value evolves. When your company is just getting off the ground, you’re involved in every decision, every sale, and every hire. But as you grow, the goal should be to work toward a smaller list of high-leverage activities (like being the Key Person of Influence) — the ones where your personal touch still makes all the difference. Delegate, but don’t disconnect entirely.

The startup world celebrates founders who hustle hard in the early stages, but the next step isn’t about stepping back completely. It’s about shifting your focus to where you can have the greatest long-term impact. So, as your company scales, stay in Founder Mode. Keep your hands on the wheel where it counts most, and give yourself space to work on what only you can do.