Founder Relationships

Founders often believe the biggest risk to their company is market conditions, competition, or capital.

In my experience, the biggest risk is usually much closer to home.

It’s unresolved tension between key people.

Co-founder misalignment.

A leadership team that doesn’t trust each other.

A founder who no longer trusts the team.

A team that is afraid of the founder.

Roles that were never clearly defined but can’t be changed without conflict.

Early relationship dynamics that no longer work at scale.

Most companies don’t fall apart because of strategy.

They fall apart because the relationships at the top become strained and the system can’t hold the tension anymore.

And by the time this shows up in numbers, the relational problem has usually been there for a long time.

One of the hardest parts of being a founder is this:

The company grows, but the relationships that built the company often don’t grow at the same pace.