Living the Founder’s Dilemma: My Personal Experience in Leading a Company from $0 to $100 million
Published five years ago, The Founder’s Dilemma has quickly become essential reading for aspiring entrepreneurs. At the heart of the book’s intrigue is the initially surprising statistic that less than one-quarter of founders are still at the helm when their company goes public. How does that account for influential and powerful Founder/CEOs that loom over nearly every industry? What about Jeff Bezos? And Steve Jobs? What about Phil Knight or Howard Schultz?
The answer is that these luminaries are the rare exception — not the rule — due to the role of CEO changing so drastically as the company progresses from an idea to launch, and, if they’re lucky, to growth.
I consider myself extremely lucky that I’ve been able to experience that change first-hand. I founded Seismic in 2010 with a small group of co-founders. Eight years later, we have grown to over $100 million revenue. We have grown from five employees to 550 and zero customers to more than 500 enterprise companies using our product. My experience echoes Wasserman in that my job has changed profoundly. I wanted to highlight three such areas to other entrepreneurs looking to defy the odds in growing their idea into a full-fledged business and beyond.
Day-to-day activities
In the early days you have your hand on literally every aspect of the business. My background is in product so that has always been a major area of concentration for me. But I was also the de facto customer success manager, the CFO, head of people operations, director of sales engineering, and marketing head.
My first challenge arose when we began bringing on experts to focus on each of those areas — to the point that my desire to micromanage would actually be detrimental. Relinquishing control for the betterment of the company was tough for me, but it laid the foundation for what ultimately becomes your role as CEO: that of coach, strategist and Chief Tiebreak Officer.
Overseeing 550 employees means that the number of decisions that cross my desk become fewer and fewer, but those that do become more and more difficult. If there is something that is escalated to me, it means other smart people are struggling with it, and those types of decisions also usually come with great advocates on either side of the argument making very strong and passionate points. Driving the really tough decisions and communicating the vision behind them has become one of the most important aspects of the job.
Interactions with employees
This is the part of growth that I am currently struggling with the most. Two years ago, I set time with each new employee during their first week on the job. I did this because I firmly believe that good ideas can come from anyone and I wanted to be as accessible as possible.
Today, there are employees at Seismic that I have not yet met. When I travel to our other offices there are people who I may not recognize. I inherently dislike the personal distance, and at times it leads to challenging situations. For example, an email from the CEO with a suggestion can be misconstrued as “an order” and a top-priority even if it was truly just a suggestion. There is a fine balance between exercising my natural inclination to offer ideas to different teams while also reinforcing the fact that they are the ultimate experts.
On the flip side, one of the most rewarding and inspiring aspects I’ve come to appreciate is just how many people have decided to invest their professional future in Seismic. I spend time with each orientation session, usually a group of 20 or so new employees. Looking out at a growing sea of people who have put their trust in Seismic’s vision is one of the main reasons why I am determined to keep growing the company.
The proverbial “what keeps you up at night” concerns
When you’re just starting out as a founder, each day can be a “life or death” struggle. Difficult choices come from every direction and you are often dealing with several at the same time. Navigating these waters can be quite anxiety-inducing because doing so requires not only good decision making, but also good timing and often more than a little luck.
The tough decisions I make now are generally very different. They rarely involve the “life or death” issues of the past. At the same time, you do feel the magnitude of each tough decision as many more people, customers and team members alike are affected. The weight of “the buck stops here” becomes heavier each day.
The one thing I recommend to other aspiring entrepreneurs
If you’ve read The Founder’s Dilemma then you know that the dilemma at hand is really about control. Founders must choose between retaining as much control as possible or sacrificing it for growth. The book argues that neither way is necessarily wrong; it’s just the preference of what the founder wants their company to become.
I fall squarely in the latter category. I feel an incredible responsibility to my other founders, to my employees, and to our customers to continue to grow Seismic so that we can all share in its success. For other entrepreneurs who feel the same way, my number one recommendation after eight years at Seismic is this: Find the best people to join you on your journey. Never take the team building aspect of the business for granted. Give your team the freedom to exercise control over their aspects of the business and allow their voices to be heard.
It will be tough. When the business transitions from being an idea to a group of people, you lose a great amount of control and comfort. But it’s only through surrounding yourself with great people, and trusting and supporting them, that you will ultimately give yourself the chance to defy the odds and become the exception to the rule.
Doug is the CEO and founder of Seismic. Find him on LinkedIn and on Twitter.
