If you haven’t seen it already, founder and CEO Joel Bomgar’s article on Why Startup Founders Can Make Solid CEOs was featured in Fortune Magazine yesterday. Joel makes some very intelligent and logical arguments on why company originators, like himself, should be left in the driver’s seat, rather than set aside by investors in favor of the “professional” CEO. He argues that there is no one better to lead the company than the visionary who saw the potential in the first place, and their replacement can often be disastrous.
Joel points to founders who, whether ousted or voluntary defectors, have been requested to return to their startups in order to stop impending financial doom. Among these he lists Larry Page at Google, Michael Dell at Dell, Howard Schultz at Starbucks, Steve Jobs at Apple and more. It seems clear there are times when a raw visionary can have a better sense of what’s best for the company, both financially and progressively, than a trained, professional CEO.
Joel argues that if the startup founder lacks any skills in leadership, train him! The benefits of having a visionary on top rather than stuck underneath a hired outsider or kindly booted out, far outweighs the efforts involved in teaching someone the skills of being an effective leader. No one’s questioning twenty-six year old Mark Zuckerberg’s ability to steer Facebook, are they?
It would be interesting to see how many original founders remain in the companies represented in the Bomgar Community. Who captain’s your company and how did she or he get there?