Topic
Founder Mode
Every resource in the archive tagged with founder mode.
26 resources
EssayDon't Fuck Up the Culture
Brian Chesky
Apr 2014 · 3 min read
Why culture matters more than anything else — the letter Chesky sent the entire Airbnb team in 2013.
EssayCEOs Should Tell It Like It Is
Ben Horowitz
Jul 2010 · 11 min read
CEOs who hide bad news destroy trust and prevent their best people from solving hard problems.
EssayMaking Yourself a CEO
Ben Horowitz
Oct 2012 · 12 min read
Being a CEO requires mastering unnatural skills, especially the foundational practice of giving honest, authentic feedback.
EssayManaging Your Own Psychology
Ben Horowitz
Mar 2011 · 16 min read
Managing your own psychology is the hardest CEO skill, harder than organizational design or hiring, because everything wrong is your fault.
EssayHow Things Get Done
Sam Altman
3 min read
Things get done through focus on two or three priorities and strong personal relationships.
EssayBillionaires Build
Paul Graham
Dec 2020 · 15 min read
Becoming a billionaire requires building something people genuinely want, not exploiting them.
VideoKeith Rabois on how to identify great talent
Keith Rabois
Mar 2026 · 1 min read
How to spot great talent: expand each person's responsibilities until they break.
VideoSteve Jobs explains the importance of both thinking and doing
Steve Jobs
Mar 2026 · 1 min read
Why the people who change industries are thinkers and doers in one person.
EssayHiring Executives
Ben Horowitz
Oct 2010 · 15 min read
How to hire executives for roles you've never done yourself.
EssayWhy We Prefer Founding CEOs
Ben Horowitz
Apr 2010 · 16 min read
Founding CEOs outperform professional CEOs at running technology companies because they innovate better.
EssayHow to Minimize Politics in Your Company
Ben Horowitz
Aug 2010 · 15 min read
Even self-proclaimed apolitical CEOs encourage political behavior in their companies.
EssayLead Bullets
Ben Horowitz
Nov 2011 · 7 min read
When facing an existential threat, stop looking for clever shortcuts and do the hard work to fix your core problem.
EssayA Good Place to Work
Ben Horowitz
Aug 2012 · 12 min read
Good companies survive crises because employees stay when they like their work, making culture an end in itself.
EssayThe Struggle
Ben Horowitz
Jun 2012 · 10 min read
The Struggle is when you know you’re in over your head, but you can’t be replaced.
EssayPeacetime CEO / Wartime CEO
Ben Horowitz
Apr 2011 · 11 min read
In peacetime, it’s all about growth.
EssayFast
Patrick Collison
7 min read
Teams once built cities and planes in months; today the same projects take decades due to regulatory complexity.
EssaySuper-Successful Companies
Sam Altman
5 min read
The defining traits of founders whose startups become extremely successful.
EssayResearchers and Founders
Sam Altman
1 min read
The common traits that distinguish the best researchers and founders, from problem taste to persistence to an action bias.
EssayGuide to Startups, Part 9: How to hire a professional CEO
Marc Andreessen
Aug 2007 · 1 min read
Don't hire a professional CEO if no one on your founding team can do it—sell instead.
EssayGuide to Startups, Part 8: Hiring, managing, promoting, and firing executives
Marc Andreessen
Aug 2007 · 16 min read
How to hire, manage, promote, and fire executives at a startup, with specific guidelines for each stage.
EssayThe Top Idea in Your Mind
Paul Graham
Sep 2022 · 10 min read
Founders misjudge which problems matter most, but rapid focus on the vital few—measured weekly—accelerates everything.
EssayRelentlessly Resourceful
Paul Graham
Mar 2009 · 4 min read
The defining quality of a successful startup founder is relentless resourcefulness.
EssayFounder Mode
Paul Graham
Sep 2024 · 5 min read
Founder mode—how founders run companies—works better than manager mode, the standard advice they're given.
EssayMaker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule
Paul Graham
Jul 2009 · 5 min read
Two incompatible ways to use time: the maker's schedule and the manager's schedule.
EssayDo Things That Don't Scale
Paul Graham
Jul 2013 · 19 min read
Why successful startups succeed by doing manually unscalable things first, like recruiting users one at a time.
EssayGuide to Startups, Part 1: Why not to do a startup
Marc Andreessen
Jun 2007 · 10 min read
The emotional, logistical, and interpersonal reasons why starting a company is much harder than most people realize.