this post was submitted on 18 Nov 2023
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Sure, that's why you bring on other people with those skillsets to fill those roles. Doesn't mean you have to remove the people who pioneered the company? The "vision", so to speak. The people who understood what it took to make the company what it is in the first place? I mean look at what happened when they ousted Jobs.
Apple is now the most valuable company on earth, so I think you're not making the point you think you're making. Publicly traded companies act only based on what increases the value of their shares the most. If the current CEO isn't seen as the most profitable CEO for the shareholders, they will eventually be replaced, even if they founded the company. That is a risk you knowingly take when taking your company public. Most founders choose the money that comes with an IPO, knowing they'll eventually get the boot.
I think you're just not as familiar with Apple as you think you are. They ousted Jobs very early on and the company subsequently floundered badly. Then they brought him back and then took off like a rocket again to become the monolith they are today (even though he passed some time ago now).
Steve Jobs is the exception. I'm just trying to answer the original question about why this happens so often. I'm not trying to argue about the best way to run a company. But if you're equating every founder with Steve Jobs then we're having a completely different conversation.
It unfortunately often does. It’s hard for the original founders to “let go” and some of the things that were idiosyncrasies at the scale of 10 are actively detrimental to people’s careers and the business’ wider growth when you’re 1000. Experienced founders often recognise when it’s time to hire the “VP Eng” that’ll replace them, but if it’s their first big go at it, they often cling on a bit longer that they should.