The Psychology Behind Why Founders Fail as They Scale |
“Here we go again, I thought”, as I listened to the board member tell me how frustrated he was with the founder of one of their venture firm’s most promising investments. Sadly, I knew the call was likely too late to prevent an inevitable cascade of emotional and financial consequences.
Working as an executive coach in Silicon Valley with venture capital firms and the companies where they have placed their investments means being at the confluence of high-stakes financial and career risk. When brilliant, creative, and ambitious individuals are successful, new products and services are launched into the world, rewarding all involved. However, there are more ways for things to go wrong than right, and one of the most painful comes down to entrepreneurial psychology when the founder’s identity is misaligned with the needs of the company.
As an individual contributor in a company, a manager/leader of others, or as a start-up founder, you’re obliged to understand the requirements of your role and ensure that how you see yourself, your identity, meets the demands of that role. Our identity acts as a filter to prioritize what we pay attention to and what we ignore; what is critically important and what is of little interest. Our identities evolve as our life evolves. When........