Founder Leadership

Build a sustainable approach to founder leadership that protects your focus and well-being.

Compensation, Equity, & Incentives
Conflict & Change
Culture & Values
Employee Experience
Founders & Co-Founders
Hiring & Recruiting
Management & Leadership
Office Leadership & Politics
Onboarding & Enablement
Org Design
Organizational Decision-Making
People & Leadership Decisions
Performance Management
Remote & Hybrid Teams
Talent Quality
A portrait of Andy Chen, co-founder and managing partner of Outcast Ventures
Founder Leadership

This VC wants to help you start a company with someone you don’t yet know

Andy Chen’s Catalyst program aims to pair co-founders and create startups during one eight-week sprint.

Dan Latu
Headshot of Angie Hicks, a light-skinned woman with an auburn short pixie cut with long side swept bangs wearing a pale pink top and black cardigan. She is smiling widely at the camera.
Founder Leadership

Angi co-founder Angie Hicks on why the right people make the best businesses

“Culture actually makes or breaks the company.”

Megan McCarthy
Headshot of Brett Schulman, a man with light skin and short cropped salt-and-pepper hair wearing a navy blazer and white button down shirt smiling broadly at the camera.
Founder Leadership

How Cava CEO Brett Schulman earned the trust of the original founders

Brett Schulman joined Cava after its three original founders had already launched a restaurant. He discusses joining as a leader, making difficult decisions as the company scaled, and why letting go became one of the hardest parts of leading a fast-growing brand.

Jamila Huxtable
Headshot of Aaron and Samantha Edwards. Aaron has dark skin, short dark hair close cropped on the sides with a close-shaven beard, is wearing a navy blue blazer and t-shirt, and is looking sternly at the camera. Samantha has dark skin, shoulder-length dark straight hair parted to the side, wearing a navy top, and is smiling warmly at the camera.
Founder Leadership

The sibling system behind The Charles Group's 15-year success

Brother-and-sister founders Aaron and Samantha Edwards explain how they divide power, resolve disagreements, and why they believe the toughest businesses are built by founders willing to "scrap with anyone and anything.”

Jamila Huxtable
Headshot of Judy Thelen and Eliot Frost
Founder Leadership

Beli’s married co-founders on how their partnership is their company’s ‘superpower’

“The fact that I can work with someone that I completely trust makes making decisions a lot easier, and we can be very honest.”

Ava Manson
Carylyne Chan and Emily Hurd
Founder Leadership

Why Good Instincts rejected the “move fast” startup mentality

Carylyne Chan and Emily Hurd spent six years and 100+ iterations learning why “move fast and break things” can backfire in consumer health products.

Jamila Huxtable
Group photo of the founders of Dad Gang, from left to right Ejay O'Donnell, Bart Szaniewski, and Grant Eastey, all white men wearing t-shirts and baseball hats.
Founder Leadership

Dad Gang’s founders on building a company while strengthening their community

How three close friends turned an encouraging phrase into a business—and why they decided to invite in a new partner.

Megan McCarthy

Every company is built on hard choices.

Founder Brew is our twice-weekly newsletter covering how great ideas and entrepreneurial spirit grow into real businesses. We examine what it takes to build, the tradeoffs founders face, and what keeps them going.

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