Too many cooks spoil the broth

While some of you might know Dustin Moskovitz, every single one of you could name Mark Zuckerberg.

Dustin and Mark, along with Eduardo Saverin and Chris Hughes, were the four co-founders of Facebook.

Today, only one remains. And that’s a key reason why Facebook has over 3 billion users globally.

The company has followed the ultimate vision of one person: Mark Zuckerberg.

Let’s take a step back and see why choosing a single leader is so critical to business success.

It starts in a garage.

Perhaps it’s a metaphorical garage or a real one, but this is where the genesis of an idea for a company begins.

Maybe it’s two people - maybe it’s more - and they are likely friends and feeling a great sense of community with their mission.

The ideas are flying fast and furious.

There’s lots of bad ones… and finally… a great one.

We have a company!

It begins to grow, adding employees, getting investors and finally bringing a product to market.

The team has selected one of the founders to be CEO, another to be CTO and a third to be CMO.

All feel they are equal.

They’re not.

In my experience, this is the most difficult stage in taking a new company to the next level.

Companies that want to grow, be impactful and deliver shareholder value need to have one lead dog - the person who ultimately steers the direction of the company.

Multiple founders is the best way to get a company up and running… one person eventually taking over is the best way to have a great company.

The earlier that founders have this admittedly difficult conversation, the better.

Founders need to take an honest assessment of each of their strengths and weaknesses and determine who will not only be the face of the company, but the strategic guide.

It’s not about money. All the founders can have equal shares in the company, and even equal voting rights.

But the buck has to stop with one person.

Does this mean the other founders need to leave the company? Absolutely not.

In the best circumstances, the founders will stay and play critical roles - and perhaps one of them will take over as CEO at some point.

I’m going to write next week about how to build that succession plan.

Of course, many times, some or all of the founders will leave and go to make their mark somewhere else.

Dustin Moskovitz is a great example. After leaving Facebook in 2008, he co-founded Asana. He’s still CEO there and the company’s current market valuation is over $4 billion.

Win-win indeed.

Thanks for reading!

‍