1/ I think a CEOs job boils down to 3 things: -set and evangelize the vision -attract and retain talent -don’t run out of money That’s my framework.
2/ Vision: I think this is probably the CEO’s most important job and one the CEO is uniquely positioned to do. It is laying out a clear, crisp and compelling vision, consistently reinforcing it, and inspiring others to follow it (and evangelize it themselves).
4/ Don’t run out of money: The goal is to not run out of money because you run a great business and revenue > costs. Growth is self-funded. Sometimes VC money is required to get there. Regardless, the CEO is responsible for not running out of money.
5/ That starts with understanding the economics of the business and properly forecasting. Others should clearly be involved in this process, but you can’t in my experience simply delegate it. Many startups also need to fundraise- CEO should be heavily involved IMO.
6/ I found this framework to be clarifying as a CEO to help decide what not to do, as well as what to do. Every startup has 100 fires and the CEO has time to work on 2-3. I found that using this framework helped me focus on the things I was uniquely responsible for.
7/ If there was a sales issue or product issue I was getting pulled into- should I be? Was that more of an issue of not having the right team in place? Other CEOs may have frameworks that work for them, this was just what I believe.
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