Notes on founder mode

We’re in Founder Mode (or just preparing for our next big roadshow in Singapore, see below).

God-tier Silicon Valley boss and also Y Combinator founder Paul Graham broke his little bit of the internet recently when he wrote a blog post about something called Founder Mode.

Inspired by a speech by Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky, it’s basically saying you should ignore the conventional wisdom about how to scale a company. 

This wisdom is to hire great people and let them do their thing. According to Chesks, he followed this advice and the company suffered. Graham says that all this leads to is the hiring of professional makers and driving the company into the ground.

Either way, Graham’s thesis has a whiff of ‘let the founders micromanage at all levels and if you don’t like it, start packing’. 

The internet has been loving it, obviously: 

Web3 Founder Mode: Perpetual VC Doom Loop

In Web3, it often feels it’s no longer enough to simply be good at running a company or inventing tools, you have to be a guru or visionary that can inspire and enrich millions around the world. 

But Web3 has a unique problem in that its patchy regulation and relatively small-size compared to the wider tech industry meaning that it is at the mercy of venture capital money. This is bad because their interests aren’t always aligned with the best interests of the Web3 industry itself. 

We’re not saying all VC is bad (that’s a smooth brain take) but the worst of the bunch perpetuate the same business models in Web3 getting the most money, which leads to cyclical pumping and dumping so the investors can get their 100x and disappear over the horizon. 

That’s bad news for Founder Mode in Web3. Crypto founders are often really bright, technically brilliant and determined to make the world a better place.

But what many of them don’t realise is that when you get investors, Founder Mode is dead in the water and VC mode takes over. 

VC mode leads to a pattern as old as time

1. Spot business with potential

2. Powerpoints all round

3. Hooray! - seed funding secured

4. Boo - turns out these VCs are really into hyper-scaling and not so much about innovation

5. VC exit when the margins hit right

6. Layoffs in bear market

7. Rinse and repeat

The sad truth is that this happens way too much in Web3. Look at this response from a tired Web3 vet: 

There is one big caveat: Web3 founders shouldn’t simply be given absolute power. All you have to do is look back at the recent history of crypto and look at who were firmly in Founder Mode: 

• Su Zu

• Do Kwon 

• CZ

• SBF

• Alex Mashinky 

Maybe with a little less founder freedom and a bit more external checks and balances some of the disasters these founders wrought that continue to blight the industry could have been avoided. 

Anyway - for a measured response to why those power-hungry for unfettered Founder Mode should have a cold shower and a lie down, check out this blog here.

THE Token highlight

One week to go. Mark your already-packed calendars because this one is not to be missed. We put together the coolest in the biz and who’ll uncover their best kept secrets in Founder Mode, of course.

17th September, Singapore, 7PM. RSVP here and see you on the dancefloor. 🪩