Would you start a startup knowing you'll be fired in 18 months?(blog.tenacityworx.com)
blog.tenacityworx.com
Would you start a startup knowing you'll be fired in 18 months?
http://blog.tenacityworx.com/2011/10/would-you-start-startup-knowing-youll.html
7 comments
When you start a startup I hope you do it to not fail. Even if you might fail first time(s) the mentality that "as long as I don't get fired" I consider the same as "I'm not sure about this". I would say you must believe in what you do to make it succeed, make other believe in it too.
Was surprised to see that lots of high profile companies have in fact fired their founders. Steve Jobs was fired by Apple in 1985, Sandy Lerner was fired by Cisco in 1996, and Diane Greene was fired from VMware in 2008.
All power to the start-up entrepreneur but on the subject of that TW post - in the UK we have a word for them. It start with a W and rhymes with Bankers.
Life's too short to be stuck at the 9 to 5 job. You have to take risks right?
Changing a CEO doesn't mean you get fired. Sometimes it just makes sense to let somebody more experience drive the company. Good CEOs are very very expensive.
But let's say that you created a company from the ground up: 0 customers to 1000 customers in 18 months. Assuming those are good numbers, is it fair for the board to remove you? By adding a new CEO, could they clash with the culture and hurt sales? IMHO, adding a new CEO is like trying to predict the future. Nothing is guaranteed. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
If you don't own more than 50% of the stock, and don't control the board, it means you voluntarily sold a large share of your stock to the investors. So it's completely fair if they don't like your performance and want to remove you - they paid for that right with their money.
Unless you sold 100% of your stock, you can't be completely "fired", you still own a piece of the company and can vote.
Unless you sold 100% of your stock, you can't be completely "fired", you still own a piece of the company and can vote.