What do startup founders do, really? What is the job as a startup ceo /founder?
Leadership has proven to be very important in every sphere of human existence. That’s why it is believed that most countries succeed because of their leaders and the ones that fail too have their leaders to hold responsible.
And as a startup founder, you are automatically the leader of the startup (even if you choose not to be the CEO). So, the success or failure of the company is mostly up to you.
Maybe you have established a startup, and you wonder what you should be doing as the founder. Or you plan to develop your startup someday, and you’re curious what your responsibilities would be. Not to worry, I got you covered.
I’ve had the opportunity to work with different startup founders in fulltime roles and freelance capacities. I also managed to have a couple of them as friends and acquaintances, and I’ve grabbed some lessons in my interactions with them.
I have also read some books on leadership, business, entrepreneurship and startups. Notable among them are Lean Startup by Eric Ries, Start With Why by Simon Sinek and Small Money Big Business by Akin Alabi.
So I will be sharing some of the things I learnt with you to help you understand your responsibilities as a startup founder.
Contents
Your Responsibilities as a Startup CEO / Founder
As the startup founder, you understand the company more than anyone else. You know your vision, mission and goals. In the words of Simon Sinek, you know your why.
However, you are going to need the help of others to make your vision a reality. You are going to need a team to bring those visions to life. You need people to handle the how.
With the above illustration, we can deduct that your job as a startup founder revolves around leadership and coordination.
Let’s try to break those two down further, so you get a clearer picture of your roles as a startup founder
1. Team Building
Like I mentioned earlier, you need a team to help make your vision a reality. But this team will not just magically appear; you have the responsibility to create one.
This is one of the lessons from the story of the boy who harnessed the wind.
So, as a startup founder, you have an essential responsibility to assemble a fantastic team for your company.
Of course, you will need the help of professional human resources personnel. However, you still end up being the one to make the final nod, so the bulk of the work is yours.
And it’s not a team if you don’t have the right people in the right places.
For instance, if you’re a football fan, you’d know that a team with Lionel Messi as its centre back is headed to colossal loss. But put him in almost any attacking position, and you’d see him deliver. That’s simply because Messi is a genius attacker and has no business in defence (well, except to offer some assistance when the need arises).
In your team likewise, get attackers in attacking positions and defenders defending. Put round pegs in round holes and square pegs in square holes.
2. Ensure Cash Flow
You run out of cash, and you’re out of business. There are no two ways about it.
You have a responsibility as the founder of a startup to not only ensure the money keeps coming in, but also that the money is appropriately managed.
We saw some companies taking some drastic decisions of letting staff members go and imposing pay cut on others due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
While the people affected may not like the decision, in most cases, the companies did what they had to do to manage their funds effectively. And hopefully, they would revert to normalcy when the pandemic is gone.
This is an example of the responsibility of a startup founder. Sometimes, you have to make difficult decisions for the greater good of the company.
By the way, if it ever gets to the point of imposing pay cuts on your staff, you know the first person to be affected is you. In other words, you have to be the first to take the pay cut before announcing it for others. You are not a Nigerian politician, so don’t act like one.
3. Chief Visionary
As the founder, you know just what you want for your startup.
When Shola and Ezra founded Paystack, their vision was to be the Stripe for Africa. Five years later, they literally became Stripe in a deal that’s worth $200 million.
That’s what happens when you have a clear and well-communicated vision.
You must ensure your team knows and is excited about where the company is headed. It has to be clear to them at all times.
Of course, it’s okay to make some adjustments here and there on your vision as the company grows. But ensure to carry your team along.
Findings have shown that most employees derive satisfaction from their jobs when they know their role contributes towards achieving the company’s vision.
4. Managing Investors
One of the books I mentioned in this write up on marketing books for business owners is Akin Alabi’s Small Money Big Business.
One of the issues raised by the Nigerian lawmaker in this book is some wrong reasons people choose to become entrepreneurs. One of them is “so I don’t have to answer to anybody” (paraphrased).
Akin Alabi explained that even as a founder and CEO, you still have people to answer to. One of such groups or individuals you are accountable to our investors.
The day you take your first outside capital as a business is when you get a new boss. You have to make sure they are happy and informed to boost your chances of success as a startup.
You should know how often to send each of the updates and the exact type of update to send. They need to be adequately informed, but they don’t have to know everything. It’s up to you to know where to draw a balance.
5. Brand Management
You may have noticed some startup CEOs are always at events to speak, giving hot takes on social media, continually publishing blog posts on Medium and other platforms.
Fun fact is most of them don’t necessarily enjoy all these activities. In most cases, they are doing it for their brands.
As a startup founder, you are the number one ambassador for your brand. Even if you have some paid brand ambassadors, the bulk of the work is still yours as the founder and CEO.
Learn to be active on social media, especially Twitter. Engage in conversations that relate to your industry. Let your followers and others who come across your contents know that you are an expert at what you do and never miss any opportunity to chip in your brand name (as subtly as possible please).
Doing this will position you for the invitation to speak at industry events. Create time to attend as many as possible as it’s part of your responsibilities towards building a strong brand for your startup.
Conclusion
There are strict rules on how to run a startup. If you for some ten commandments for startup founders you will only end up confusing yourself.
However, the five responsibilities above broadly represent your duties as a startup founder. It is then up to you to add some flexibilities and personal touch to it as you deem fit.
If you are a startup founder and you think there are additional responsibilities that I missed, kindly state in the comments section.
