Founder's Syndrome: Getting Out of Your Own Way

This year marks 40 years working with entrepreneurs and it has been both rewarding and illuminating. There is not a day that goes by where we are not inspired by what is being done exceptionally well, and also what could use a dose of reality or insight to help business owners get out of their own way.  Over these years, our company has advised and guided countless founders of entrepreneurial enterprises.

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There are many ways a founder can be classified from being a visionary, daredevil or maverick to being an innovator, thought leader or industry changer. All of these can be exciting, engaging and empowering aspects of working with a founder of a business. What is not so engaging is when the founder becomes the business’ greatest detractor in what the business could potentially become. When founders continue to make the business all about them, and not about how the business can ultimately thrive beyond their own competency and capacity, the business will never be what it could be. This is what is called Founders Syndrome, and the only cure is for these founders to release their grip and allow others in and able to take the business to even greater heights of relevancy, excellence and growth. 

Here are five ways the Founder’s Syndrome shows up in the attitude or approach of a founding entrepreneur:

1. My Way or the Highway: A business owner that believes he or she has the answer to everything will hold back the business in ways that will never be seen or known due to a dictator approach to leading, or rather, limiting optimal success. Even if the business has realized immense success at the hands and efforts of its founder, every business reaches a point of influx where what the founder knows is not enough to sustain or grow the business. A founder who is willing to accept that what may have been the way before could be vastly improved or evolved puts the business in a better place for continuous improvement and growth. A founder who must be involved and bless every decision or action undermines everyone else in the company for what they each were hired to bring to the business. The most astute founders hire people in areas where competency is lacking. They allow everyone to do their best work and recognize and reward their contributions. 

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Momentum Building Decision #21
No one has all the answers, but someone has an answer.

2. Hiring Followers:  For a business to grow, a founder must evolve hiring to go beyond those who are merely support personnel or direct reports.  For a business to grow beyond a founder it ultimately needs others to help lead within the organization. Another aspect in hiring for the business to excel is that the founder needs to be surrounded by people who are smarter in areas in which the founder may be weak or less knowledgeable. This is what we call enhancing the business’ Intelligence Quotient (IQ) through leveraging the business’ Emotional Quotient (EQ), which is its people and their collective IQ. While it may be an ego boost to have a team that follows your every whim and direction, without those who are willing to be self-leaders including challenging a direction based from their expertise and experience, you may be holding your business back from its next level of growth. 

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Bottom Line Rule  #7
(IQ + EQ + VQ) x PQ = Economic Vitality 

3. It’s My Baby: A business with a high engagement, high performance culture has team members who take ownership with passion for the work being done and difference being made. In essence, they believe that the business is their baby too to help succeed. If founders are constantly focused on the fact that the business was birthed by their actions and dedication, the business will never grow beyond the confines of what the founder believes it can or cannot be. It will be a business decades old that still seems like a start-up in many ways. For the business to truly launch, grow and prosper, it must be inspired by its vision and mission in ways that continually have it evolving over time. The greatest aha a founder can realize is witnessing the business grow beyond what was ever imagined by them because of the heart, blood, sweat and tears of a dedicated culture of people who imagined even better, ever greater, and even more impact. 

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Bottom Line Rule  #9
A business built on a powerful purpose is one built for profits.

4. Unopen to Direction: It always amazes me how an entrepreneurial company can grow like gangbusters initially due to the brilliant idea of the founder and then fizzle. There are several reasons for this to occur. One is that the founder may be an idea junkie who gains great satisfaction and energy from constantly generating ideas. After the initial success of their new business idea, they want that “dopamine fix” from even more ideas flowing out of their brain which is where their focus continues to go. The problem begins to occur when the obsession with ideas has no focus or reinforcement to growing the current business. They become a distraction instead of a benefit to the company. Known as the “shiny object syndrome,” the owner creates chaos in the company with no clear direction or focus. When their own ideas are an obsession, they can also be unopen to ideas from others. They believe they can be the only visionary or problem solver. They can take great offense when told they need to stay focused because that feels limiting. A founder that is willing to be held accountable and reigned in by a strong leadership team all aligned in the business mission and vision is one that will see their business blow their own imagination in how it grows. 

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Bottom Line Rule #13
Ignoring what isn’t working is more costly than facing it. 

5. Creating a Codependent Business: Another sign of a business suffering from founder’s syndrome is a when a co-dependent business is what has been built. A founder that has a business that is too dependent on a key client, a key employee, a specific contractor or supplier, a specific process or the founder themselves is a business that will never be grow beyond the founder’s limitations. Read more about each of these in our blog, 5 Negative Impacts of a Co-dependent Business. 

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Momentum Building Decision #23
Get out of your own way.

In conclusion, I want to emphasize that when your business got started or is launching a new initiative or direction, being in founder mode is very different than being stuck in founder’s syndrome. Being in founder mode simply means that the founder is fully engaged and involved in leading and guiding the new initiative, with an "all hands on deck" mentality. However, where it goes awry and becomes toxic is when the founder syndrome aspect of micromanaging, dictating, and ego drives the direction. As this CNN article concludes, “a great founder needs a great management team” and “the most successful ‘founder mode’ owners have a trusted manager by their side.” 

Yours in economic vitality,

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Sherré L. DeMao, CGS is author of Dream Wide Awake, 50 Secrets of Growth Companies in Down Economic Times, and Me, Myself & Inc. – a Synergized World, An Energized Business, Living Your Ultimate Life, and the CEO/founder of BizGrowth Inc. an award-winning next-level strategy, training, and intellectual property development firm based in Denver, NC, serving clients across the United States. As a Forbes Council expert and thought leader since 2022, her blog seeks to help entrepreneurs build businesses with economic value, worth and preference in their industries and marketplaces. ​