The “Hands-On” Startup CEO

Based on my experiences as a CEO and board member, the startup CEO’s remit is associated with ten discrete business activities:

1. Establishing the company’s finance strategy, building its first and subsequent pro forma P&L, and other financials (mainly the balance sheet)

2. Conceptualizing and advancing the company’s business model and strategy

3. Putting together and driving the annual OpsPlan

4. Leading early GTM – especially the first 20+ account sales and major marketing initiatives — while serving as de facto chief officer for both sales and marketing (CSO and CMO)

5. Overseeing finance (including fundraising and accounting roles) with a focus on cash management

6. Managing the Board of Directors, advisors, investors, and meetings

7. Being the public face of the company as external and internal spokesperson

8. Leading morale efforts

9. Pitching in wherever needed

10. Functioning as the chief professional manager

The CEO can fill in for almost any executive role, almost indefinitely. CEO involvement in these roles can extend beyond both the startup and emerging company phases, as the business starts to scale.

Often, the CEO’s initial, on-going, and recurring involvement is necessary, especially in the absence of a full-time finance and accounting department, to avoid spending on consultants, or to build momentum and improve the quality of deliverables.

The CEO may also take a hands-on approach to finances. The first pro forma P&L, business/strategy decisions, and the annual OpsPlan are among a startup CEO’s purview.

These hands-on activities require integration of the founders’ vision and production of quality and consistent forecasts and budget line items, among other elements. But once a CFO is in place and the F&A department is built, the CEO’s involvement decreases in general (although there may areas where their engagement intensifies).

The startup CEO is most needed in early-stage sales and marketing, message crafting, determining customer profiles and the sales cycle, and creating the pricing model and commission plan. Once there’s a sales leader or CRO in place, the CEO’s involvement switches from intense, multilayered engagement to facile involvement at a distance in approving final marketing messages, calendar and budget, final pricing of exceptional deals, and helping to build a “rinse and repeat” sales engine.

After the intense and exciting early stages, the CEO may find it difficult to revert to mundane, tactical, or highly detailed work. Some CEOs aren’t willing to return to this work at all. But while it might not be found in the formal job description, the startup CEO role entails doing all manner of mundane or detailed activities whenever the company needs it.

The sad truth is that the CEO is stuck with these duties until the company can afford to pay someone else to do them. For example, the startup CEO should do their own expense reports; help draft policies; write, read or edit Board Minutes, and write blog posts. CEOs who refuse to do these things may not realize their direct impact on morale and bigger problems down the road.

Alternately, there are 6 signs of a CEO who’s over-involved:

1. A fixation on constant updates

2. Scheduling multiple meetings with him or her present

3. Clear difficulty delegating and an unwillingness to give up involvement

4. An obsessive need to be cc'd on all email and Slack messages

5. Complex project instructions or guidance

6. The CEO’s approval on every task

These CEOs suffer from an inner voice that tells them: “No one on the team is capable. I have to do all of this myself.”

The best startup CEOs limit their involvement and refuse to micro-manage. They know the company is stronger when others rise to the task. They can read their employees’ signals letting them know when they need help and when they don’t. The best CEOs inspire others, get out of the way, and praise excellence.

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