It’s going to be a shorter post this week because I’ve been tied up with various NY Fashion Week commitments…
Last week the Silicon Valley crowd were creaming themselves over a blog post from their patron saint Paul Graham(founder of Y Combinator and other things), in which he sang the praises of “founder mode” as superior to “manager mode.” The post got a huge reaction from the blogging/Substack crowd, much of which was praise from tech types who finally felt heard.
For someone who has been dubbed the “philosopher of Silicon Valley,” it’s shocking how many logical fallacies Graham managed to fit into one blog post…
False dichotomy? “In effect there are two different ways to run a company: founder mode and manager mode.” Check.
Straw man? “The way managers are taught to run companies seems to be like modular design in the sense that you treat subtrees of the org chart as black boxes.” Check.
Confirmation bias? “The audience at this event included a lot of the most successful founders we've funded, and one after another said that the same thing had happened to them.” Check.
Hasty generalization? “what [manager mode] often turns out to mean is: hire professional fakers and let them drive the company into the ground.” Check.
He uses a lot of words to say that founders* should be obsessively micro-managing every aspect of their company, like Steve Job. (*Though he doesn’t say it explicitly, he of course means tech founders, not independent marketing consultancy founders.)
But it’s the words he doesn’t use that betray his underlying belief that founders are some kind of mystical, blessed beings whose essence transcends basic human behavior and thus should be treated with special reverence.
Here’s just a few of the words he (un)surprisingly does not use a single time in a post discussing management styles:
“Strategy”
You know what kind of leader needs to micromanage every decision? One without a strategy.
The “go-go-go/just do stuff/move fast and break things” mentality that pervades Silicon Valley founders might make it seem like they’re the hardest working people in the world, but it’s just as much a case of intellectual laziness.
Every organization needs to make thousands of decisions a day, and it is leadership’s job to equip them with the strategy to make those decisions on their own.
“Leadership”
Because he insisted on the false dichotomy between “manager mode” and “founder mode,” Graham of course ignored the distinction between management and leadership. He (falsely) depicted management as a sort of corporate deism in which the CEO winds the clock and then lets it run.
But anyone who has worked in a job of any kind knows that the best managers are the ones who can also do the work when they need to. We don’t want bosses looking over our shoulder while we dig the trench, but we sure as hell want them digging with us when we need the help.
Graham doesn’t bother considering “leader mode” because in his view founders aren’t a part of the team. They’re the supreme being who must decide how he (usually) will exert his supremacy (founder mode or manager mode).
“Learn”
Underlying the spirit of Founder Mode is a belief that founding is the ultimate skill, and that any other inherent or acquired ability is less valuable. Not having the time to do everything isn’t the only reason why good managers delegate tasks; it’s also because other people might be better at things then them.
In my time as a manager at a giant corporation, a leader in a scale-up business, and as a “founder” of my own company, I made sure to learn as much as I could from everyone I interacted with. This undeniably made me more successful in whatever role I was in at the time.
Viewing every employee as a simple task-completer not only undervalues the employee, it limits what you can potentially learn from them, and therefore puts a pretty hard ceiling on what your company can achieve.
“Ego”
I can’t help but think that the whole piece is a subconscious reaction to the growing cultural pushback on tech dominance. We’re starting to experience the negative effects of digital companies running free and loose with disregard for the consequences on humanity. As a result, not surprisingly we’re losing our reverence for the founders who start and run these companies.
This is driving the emerging Silicon Valley persecution complex.
Graham actually used the word “gaslit” to describe how “founders” are being treated. The world’s richest, whitest protected class.
The post is essentially a 1,000 affirmation telling founders that they are as special as they always thought they were; Stuart Smalley reminding himself he’s good enough, smart enough, and people like him.
Except we don’t, and that’s his real problem.
This Week’s Whimsies
I’ve never been to a Sizzler and didn’t realize they were still in business, but their attempt at a retrench/rebrand is interesting. I’ve never seen a business go so dramatically back to its roots, both geographically and strategically. (And it’s shocking they’re not using Wesley Snipes/White Men Can’t Jump).
Another brilliant piece, this one about media measurement, from Julia Alexander which starts with this statement: “I have a general theory that people care more about top 10 lists in 2024 than they did in 2004 because no one has any idea what’s really popular anymore beyond the NFL and Taylor Swift.”
A lovely philosophical exploration of the idea of attention which says that “Enchantment is just the measure of the quality of our attention.”
A better counterpoint to Paul Graham’s bullshit that touches on both leadership and how to do strategy: “The Future of Planning Is… Doing”
You find the most interesting (and bizarre) topics Joe. I never heard of Paul Graham, not surprising as I’m not a tech guy or a founder. Are you surprised that people with tremendous egos downplay the importance & need for strategy and leadership!
Enjoy Fashion Week