The other day, a friend of mine asked me whether CEOs were born or made. I said, “That’s kind of like asking if Jolly Ranchers are grown or made. CEO is an unnatural job.”
Ben Horowitz, “The Hard Thing About Hard Things.”
You’re putting in 80-hour weeks. You’re sure you’re doing your best but you’re still up at night, second-guessing your choices, wondering if that investment will come in, worrying when that big account will close, whether the pilot will succeed, and why the board members are giving you a cold shoulder.
Your biggest problem is you have no one to turn to who you can trust, who’s been in your shoes, and has the time and desire to get in the weeds with you.
Managing startups is a profession you don’t learn any other way except by doing it. Doing it well requires both depth and perspective. Someone who can help you chart a course through the desert – cause he’s crossed it multiple times before. A person who has access to the people, companies and knowledge that you need in order to succeed.
Make yourself the best CEO you can be. Your company deserves nothing less.
Best advice for a new CEO comes not from VCs or other ‘advisors’ people tend to put on PowerPoint slides, but from more experienced CEOs who have been in their shoes before…ideally multiple times over.“ – Bilal Zuberi, Lux Capital
