Why do founders get fired?

The goal is to always keep the founder in the company as long as possible, but it doesn't always work out that way for many reasons.

Specifically why founders get fired - it's because the tough personal issues are not talked about openly and they are not addressed until it is too late.

What sometimes gets lost in the founder's decision to take investment from a VC is that you are signing up to build a company (which is very different from building a product or a business) and to grow that company at an unnatural pace.

If remain in the C-suite and you personally do not grow at the same or at an accelerated pace to your company, it will outgrow you. You need to grow from being an innovative creator to a company builder and an effective people leader. And you need to start early, earlier than you think. If you cannot do this, the company will need to find someone who can, which can lead to being fired.

In reality, regardless of any neuro-divergence, sometimes the founder is not able to grow at the pace their company needs them to or doesn't want to grow in that way. And that's ok. Going from 0-1 takes a certain skillset, innovativeness and outlook on the world. It's all about the tech and oftentimes milestones that can be proven scientifically through your individual cognitive intelligence, IQ and scientific principles.

When you start to get to 8-10 people, especially if any employees are remote, it changes. You can't just do everything yourself or directly tell everyone what specifically to do. You have to start growing and building THROUGH people.

This is a different skillset and a very different way of working. This is when EQ starts to really come into play and when founders, especially those that are neuro-divergent, can start to feel overwhelmed, out of their element and unsure.

I've seen many variations of how this unfolds. Some founders realize on their own that they are not able to grow as fast as their company requires or that they don't like the day-to-day of being the CEO, but they can't possibly show any sign of "weakness" so they don't bring it up. They live inside their head and have an insistent feeling of not being good enough or that something is wrong with them. They "should" be able to do this.

Some other founders are living the same reality, but aren't self-aware enough or their ego won't let them see it or acknowledge it. This is where it can get messy if it is not handled properly. And in severe cases of refusal to self-reflect or ego blocking, this is where it can lead to a founder getting fired.

VCs and Board members are not off the hook - they put their head in the sand and wait too long. They may only connect with the founder every quarter or they hope it doesn't become an issue because they don't want to have the hard conversations. I get it, I've been there many times. It's a complicated topic!

Signs that it is starting to become a problem are:

• Do members of your team say you are a micro-manager?

• Does your team avoid confrontation or dissenting or having an opinion other than yours?

• In team meetings where you are debating an issue, do your team members have hunched shoulders, looking down, playing with their fingers or do they look between one another, but not at you?

• Does everyone defer to you to make a decision?

• Do you have to be involved in every decision and does this come from a place of fear?

• Do employees keep leaving?

• Do you wonder why your team just won't just do what you tell them to or do you ask yourself shouldn't they just know what they need to do?

• Do you feel like your team doesn't understand you?

• Do you feel alone? Frustrated?

What happens?

What most founders do is push on, and oftentimes they continue with what has made them successful in the past. They work longer, they try to keep their fingers in everything, controlling it and eventually they become a bottleneck for progress. If the founder lacks EQ, I've seen interactions be heated, disrespectful, insulting and aggressive. People leave because they can't do anything right, they don't have ownership and they are walking on eggshells.

Milestones end up not being met, the team is operating at a reduced rate of efficacy and efficiency because they have not been empowered, they rely on the founder too much and there is no clarity or psychological safety in the company. Innovation is stifled. People leave. Then, eventually the VCs and Board get alerted through lagging indicators and start to get involved. It becomes contentious, it isn't handled well and it becomes an offence and a defence situation. The Board and VCs then determine the founder needs to leave and they work to get them out, dragging the company and vision with it. No one wins.

I believe a founder exit can be a healthy part of the company's evolution, but I believe too many founders are fired from their companies by their board and/or their VCs, and I believe in almost all cases, this is avoidable.

I have directly helped 150+ founders during my career and although I have helped 10+ founders exit their companies, not one was fired. Exit is not the ideal answer, but sometimes it is a reality. When it is the best answer for everyone, especially the founder, it should never be a surprise. The requirements of the founder by the company in their current role and how the founder is feeling should be a topic that is discussed regularly, openly and with heart and it needs to be handled and transitioned well.

There is a better way. Reach out and let's chat.