Tech Founder Thoughts: Part 1

Are you the right CEO for your new venture?

This is the first in a series for inventor/founders of tech startups. In these stories we’ll discuss the hardest things for founders to get right: Their personal role in the company they plan to build.

So let’s talk about the job of CEO. Chief. Executive. Officer. It’s a big time title. It comes from the big company setting where several executive officers make key decisions and one chief executive guides them. Today the term CEO is pretty much a generic handle for “the boss,” even when there are no other executive officers to be chief of.

If you are an inventor/founder of new technology you have likely encountered the notion that founders often do not make the best CEO’s. If not, then I can be the first to tell you that notion exists, is widely held in the investment community, and is often true.

So how does one decide? After all, if you are the inventor and the first employee, why shouldn’t you be CEO? There’s likely no one else hanging around wanting the job. If yours is a new tech startup, chances are there isn’t much (or any) money for salaries until you do a capital raise. So doesn’t that make “inventor and founder” synonymous with CEO?

No.