Moved by, many say, the iconic speech from Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky, one of YC Combinator’s founding fathers had an epiphany.
“In effect, there are two different ways to run a company: founder mode and manager mode.”
Paul Graham came to that conclusion after mulling over Chesky’s experiences, which many successful founders present at the moment confirmed to him. The story goes like this: as Airbnb grew, well-meaning people advised Brian to run the company in a certain way for it to scale. He hired good people and gave them room to do their jobs but the results were disastrous.
Problems arise, Graham argues, because founders cannot be sure they’ve hired great people nor will those people make the best decisions for the company. You have to activate founder mode: get into nitty-gritty details of the organization whenever possible, stay committed, and trust your founders gut.
This proposition opened up dozens of questions.
So we wondered, what founders from the CEE had to say about it.
“Gaslit” by advice from outsiders and insiders
“The advice is coming from all sides but most of it is noise”, Andrei Cretu, co-founder and CEO of Romanian startup Pluria comments.
“I’ve gotten good at ignoring advice that doesn’t match my gut feeling. Founders need to trust their instincts —outsiders don’t know the company as you do. People who haven’t built companies often don’t understand what it really takes, and following the wrong advice can do more harm than good.”
Bogdan Nicoară, CEO & Co-founder of Romanian startup Bright Spaces also believes that founders should be cautious about blindly following managerial processes if it means sacrificing gut instinct. However, he points out the challenge lies in differentiating between ego-driven decisions and true gut feelings.
“Too often, founders mistake ego for instinct, which can lead to poor choices. It’s essential to learn how to refine and trust your gut, and that often requires a mix of reflection and practice, whether through methods like meditation and mindfulness or simply forcing yourself to change perspectives.”
Marin Mrša, founder and CEO of Croatia’s startup Peekator, does this by filtering out everything he hears from outside. “There’s a lot of generic advice that, in most cases, is not helpful, but some of it can be,” he finds. “It’s up to the founders to understand what the right thing is for them at each stage of the company.”
“I don’t think there’s only one right way to grow a company, but it’s the founders’ obligation to find their way of doing it.”
It’s not micromanaging, it’s keeping the momentum
For that matter, founders should be more aware of their skills, what they bring to the table, strengths as well as weaknesses. “They should position themselves where they can make the biggest impact for the company”, Marin explains.
While Bogdan thinks founders need to maintain an overview of how the company operates, Andrei upholds that founders “must remain deeply involved at all levels”. His belief is “the moment they step back, it’s usually the beginning of the end – the company is becoming a typical, slow-moving business”.
“Startups are defined by rapid growth—if the founder shifts to just managing, the company will lose that momentum.”
Rania Lamprou, Greek co-founder and CEO of UK-based Simpler, points out the same, especially in early-stage startups. “When founders focus intently on product, growth, and execution, the startup moves with a speed and intensity that’s hard to replicate later. It’s the energy that drives momentum.”
“Unlike corporations, where time is often wasted covering for system errors, founders in startups must be agile and proactive”, Bogdan supports explaining further how this doesn’t necessarily mean micromanaging.
“As a company scales, it becomes necessary to delegate effectively. By the time you reach 50 employees, you should be focusing on your core team, typically around 12 people, who share the company’s vision and entrepreneurial spirit. These individuals need to be able to make decisions independently and streamline processes. Founders should remain involved but in a structured way that avoids micromanagement, allowing the team to operate autonomously but within a clear, well-organized framework.”
Trust in others is critical, Andrei insists explaining founders need to scale people and responsibilities — “but “downshifting” is never the answer. People say this leads to micromanaging, but the real risk is complacency and letting the business lose its edge.”
“If founders avoid merely giving orders, they can contribute to discussions and, together with the team, likely achieve much more”, Marin emphasizes.
What if founder doesn’t have it?
We’ve already concluded that being mindful of your assumptions and choices when taking advice or following your gut is imperative, and Lamprou confirms it as well. But she also points out the other side of the coin, the founder mode only works “when the founder is truly capable of leading with vision, resilience and a willingness to make hard decisions.”
Just because someone is in Founder Mode doesn’t mean the company will succeed. If the leadership isn’t right, no amount of Founder Mode hustle will turn things around. In other words, the method alone isn’t enough, it depends entirely on the qualities of the founders driving it.
Entrepreneur turned investor, Borys Musielak from Polish SMOK Ventures, shares this concern.
“In an ideal world, founders should be able to hire amazing people, give them freedom to operate, but coordinate, guide them, and work closely together on key matters. However, it’s rarely the case as it’s very hard to find that balance especially for an inexperienced founder.
“In most cases (like 99%), when a founder chooses to dismiss traditional managerial guidebook, and come on with their own (aka “founder mode”), the company ends up a miserable place to work at, with the founder(s) micromanaging, not trusting their managers and employees, demanding the same level of skill and commitment from every employee even though the employees have a completely different level of upside and compensation compared to the founders.”
Founder Mode: Can you find the balance?
So, what would Musielak, and other founders suggest to their peers and upcoming founders: how to maintainin a good measure, what is their modus operandi?
As Bright Spaces has grown, Nicoară learned the importance of finding the right balance between staying involved and empowering the team. “Initially, you want to do everything yourself, but as the company matures, you realize that you need to delegate, trusting others to carry forward the vision. This doesn’t mean completely detaching yourself—there are times when stepping back into roles you used to fill, can still be necessary.”
“Maintaining key skills and understanding what’s happening at all levels is important, but your role shifts towards guiding others to achieve the same results you once did.”
Mrsa also advises founders to position themselves at the intersection of their strengths and the company’s evolving needs. “That’s always been my approach,” he explains, adding that while founders should grow, they must still zoom in on specific problems when needed, without losing sight of the broader vision.
In founder mode vs manager mode debate Pluria’s Andrei Cretu takes more practical stance, suggesting that hands-on leadership and delegation must coexist.
“It’s not about choosing between being hands-on or delegating—both are required. Being too hands-off isn’t an option unless you’re running a lifestyle business.”
He stresses that stepping back too much can lead to stagnation and that maintaining a balance between involvement and team growth is critical. However, taking one step back when you want to interfere can sometimes be important to help your team grow. Nicoară even has a term coined to explain this perspective – structured delegation or in his words: “ensuring that processes and culture are in place to support autonomy without losing alignment with the company’s vision.”
You will know by the culture you’ve built…
For Lamprou, the balance revolves around being hands-on and staying close to the product. Still, she emphasizes: “You need to know when to trust your team, but also bring in more strategic minds as the company scales.”
Ability to bring in good talents is exactly the differentiating factor between mediocre and best founders, Musielak belives – the best founders attract and retain the best talent.
“If you have a queue of amazing people, top in the industry, who want to work for you, that’s a good start. Now if you can retain those employees, keep them engaged and contributing, when they refer to the company as “us”, not “them”, when they publicly endorse the company and work hard to get their most skilled buddies in, all of those are symptoms you are building a unique culture.”
But there is more to it, he concludes with a few questions, which I leave you to take in…
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- Do you keep an honest dialogue with your employees?
- Is everyone well incentivized with salary and stock options?
- Do you force your ideas upon others or are you, as a founder, open to changing your mind based on the feedback from your employees?
- …
