What Founder Mode Really Means

00:00 - Intro
00:29 - Founder Mode Origin
02:03 - The Core Message
02:57 - Late-Stage Founders
04:35 - Management Layers
05:39 - Bureaucracy
08:46 - Great Managers
09:49 - Investors vs Founders
10:40 - Viral Ideas
12:11 - The Blame Game

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Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) -
00:00 - Coming Up
00:17 - Intro
00:27 - Founder Mode Origin
02:01 - The Core Message
02:55 - Late Stage Founders
04:33 - Management Layers
05:37 - Bureaucracy
08:44 - Great Managers
09:47 - Investors vs Founders
10:38 - Viral Ideas
12:09 - The Blame Game
12:52 - Outro

[yashgupta]

i was having a bad day and here comes Dalton and Michael. Thank you YC!❤

[neugey]

Let's be honest - If you can't cut through the bureaucracy of the company you founded, the usual go-to is to sell the company and found another one 😄

[vincentschulz]

Moral: Keep your company as lean as possible.

[Stravia]

Make sure you the founder can hire and fire whoever is needed. Thats key to not let the company shadow you

[DrNeelDas]

I knew this episode was coming and I was looking forward to it.

[dark-dayone]

i have been waiting for these guys to talk about this forever..

[TreeYogaSchool]

I feel like Dalton Caldwell is literally one of the most legendary people to ever live.

[shadytv]

I use this as a playbook on the bottom too. I'm an Engineer and know that leadership that has active involvement in the day to day of my role isn't "Micromanagement" - It's collaboration. A manager that has no idea what I do is going to be weak when the rubber meets the road and a situation makes it to their desk. They will be ill prepared to handle it and I'll need to waste a bunch of time and resources just getting the caught up on the situation. A leader that's involved can block in a preemptive and strategic manner.

[foundational]

I wonder if 100m arr founders watch YC videos.

[dixonyamada]

so in one sentence, founder mode is about navigating and tackling the organizational and bureaucratic issues a startup encounters as they scale to a growth stage or late stage company doing tens to hundreds of millions in annual revenue. correct?

[george_davituri]

finally the real meaning of ''founder mode'' explained.

[dixonyamada]

3:27 wait founder mode doesnt apply to small startups? i thought the whole idea of founder mode was that it came from running small startups, and how that mode had to be preserved even as your company scales.

[sputnik]

Founder Mode needed a chesky explanation, a paul graham essay and a YC video; either no one knows what it is and is fitting narrative around success (for every chesky theres startups /scaleups who started and failed ad nauseam ) or it truly is that profound. Given the number of reasons to start a startup having never been more lucid, I do think this is an overhyped overblown piece, that over the long run results in poor imitiation with founders justifying their tyrannical behaviour as founder mode

[robsherwood]

Was there really no recording of the original Founder mode talk? If not, uhm… could he like give it again and have someone record it?

[dixonyamada]

curious, when you talk about this, do you have to get an OK from paul graham first

[Winger]

I thought this was going to be about cocaine....

[HungrysitesRu]

Why do you call a business with a product market fit a startup?

[mevist]

Interesting to watch, but hard to find relatable, just like the ZIRP video

[collinrutherford]

It's vital for founders to assert their vision while still being receptive to investor insights.

What approaches have you seen work well in balancing these relationships?