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These (mostly negative) emotional reactions seem pretty reasonable for anyone with so much power/responsibility. I'm not the first to wonder this, but are ther

These (mostly negative) emotional reactions seem pretty reasonable for anyone with so much power/responsibility. I'm not the first to wonder this, but are there ways to successfully run a business without a single CEO taking on all the power/responsibility themself?

jacquesm 5y ago
I've invested twice in Co-CEO managed start-ups. Like everything else, it has its pros and its cons, the one was decidedly more smooth than the other, but in both cases a viable business emerged and both companies are still in business (I've exited the one, am still involved in the other, which has one member from HN in the management).
samvher 5y ago
There's an interesting HBR article about Morning Star, a company like that: https://hbr.org/2011/12/first-lets-fire-all-the-managers https://hbr.org/2011/12/first-lets-fire-all-the-managers
cloche 5y ago
I've worked for a couple single founder businesses (not with OP though). I'll never do it again. I think it's much healthier when they have someone on equal footing that can tell them when they're being unreasonable and going in the wrong direction. As a single founder with all the control, it's too easy to just dismiss concerns that employees raise. I guess that's where the arrogance comes from. Absolute power corrupts and all that...
- dirtypersian 5y ago
  Yep, this is exactly why I left my last startup. Relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founder%27s_syndrome#:~:text=Founder's%20syndrome%20(also%20founderitis)%20is,a%20wide%20range%20of%20problems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founder%27s_syndrome#:~:text=F....
DizzyDoo 5y ago
Worker co-operation (coops) models [0] exist and can take the form of a dozen employees, or scale to really quite enormous companies like Mondragon[1]. I've come across lots of them in Europe, and a few where I live now in Canada, but I don't know if they're common at all in the US? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_cooperative https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_cooperative [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation
- zja 5y ago
  America is generally pretty allergic to socialist ideas. The tech sector in particular seems to gravitate towards libertarian ideologies, idolizing founders as heroes who single handedly disrupt entire industries and are rewarded with massive wealth. I’d be really interested to see more product based startups follow the coop model, most of the tech coops i’ve heard of are dev shops. I imagine not being able to take VC money is a big challenge, and a reason we don’t see more tech coops.
  - johnebgd 5y ago
    Why couldn’t you take VC money? The VC would just have more shareholders to contend with.
    - brianwawok 5y ago
      VCs talk to 200 people a month with a single CEO or maybe the odd co-CEO. Along you come with a 20 person co-op leadership structure. Why would they take that dive? They want you to look/act/speak/organize like their previous successes. (Which is the same general reason why non-white males start at such a giant disadvantage )
    - jimkleiber 5y ago
      I think one reason it's harder is because typically VCs pay more money to have more decision making power and many coops are founded on the one member one vote principle. So despite how much money they'd contribute, they'd have no more say than the average member.
kirsebaer 5y ago
You could check out self-managed organizations, like Semco in Brazil. https://semcostyle.us/ https://semcostyle.us/ You still have executives, but lots of management decisions are made by employees themselves, like decisions about wages and scheduling.

jacquesm 5y ago

I've invested twice in Co-CEO managed start-ups. Like everything else, it has its pros and its cons, the one was decidedly more smooth than the other, but in both cases a viable business emerged and both companies are still in business (I've exited the one, am still involved in the other, which has one member from HN in the management).

samvher 5y ago

There's an interesting HBR article about Morning Star, a company like that: https://hbr.org/2011/12/first-lets-fire-all-the-managers https://hbr.org/2011/12/first-lets-fire-all-the-managers

cloche 5y ago

I've worked for a couple single founder businesses (not with OP though). I'll never do it again. I think it's much healthier when they have someone on equal footing that can tell them when they're being unreasonable and going in the wrong direction. As a single founder with all the control, it's too easy to just dismiss concerns that employees raise. I guess that's where the arrogance comes from. Absolute power corrupts and all that...

dirtypersian 5y ago
Yep, this is exactly why I left my last startup. Relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founder%27s_syndrome#:~:text=Founder's%20syndrome%20(also%20founderitis)%20is,a%20wide%20range%20of%20problems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founder%27s_syndrome#:~:text=F....

DizzyDoo 5y ago

Worker co-operation (coops) models [0] exist and can take the form of a dozen employees, or scale to really quite enormous companies like Mondragon[1]. I've come across lots of them in Europe, and a few where I live now in Canada, but I don't know if they're common at all in the US? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_cooperative https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_cooperative [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation

zja 5y ago
America is generally pretty allergic to socialist ideas. The tech sector in particular seems to gravitate towards libertarian ideologies, idolizing founders as heroes who single handedly disrupt entire industries and are rewarded with massive wealth. I’d be really interested to see more product based startups follow the coop model, most of the tech coops i’ve heard of are dev shops. I imagine not being able to take VC money is a big challenge, and a reason we don’t see more tech coops.
- johnebgd 5y ago
  Why couldn’t you take VC money? The VC would just have more shareholders to contend with.
  - brianwawok 5y ago
    VCs talk to 200 people a month with a single CEO or maybe the odd co-CEO. Along you come with a 20 person co-op leadership structure. Why would they take that dive? They want you to look/act/speak/organize like their previous successes. (Which is the same general reason why non-white males start at such a giant disadvantage )
  - jimkleiber 5y ago
    I think one reason it's harder is because typically VCs pay more money to have more decision making power and many coops are founded on the one member one vote principle. So despite how much money they'd contribute, they'd have no more say than the average member.

kirsebaer 5y ago

You could check out self-managed organizations, like Semco in Brazil. https://semcostyle.us/ https://semcostyle.us/ You still have executives, but lots of management decisions are made by employees themselves, like decisions about wages and scheduling.