The Cliché Is Wrong
Andreessen: There's this cliché that founders are too stubborn, they get locked into their original idea and can't adapt as times change. We've actually found the opposite to be true.
When a company is going to get disrupted, the person with the best odds of countering the disruption is the founder.
The cliché says founders are too stubborn to adapt. We've found the opposite.
Reason One: They Remember Zero
Andreessen: The founder remembers when the business was nothing. They remember what it was like when nobody else was in the office, when you carried out your own trash can. This thing used to be zero. Now it's something. It could be zero again.
When an existential threat occurs — someone coming in with a disruptive product — the founder is emotionally able to wrap their head around it and figure out what to do. Because they know if they don't, they're going to be in real trouble.
The founder remembers when this thing was zero. It's something now. It could be zero again.
Reason Two: Moral Weight
Andreessen: The founder can carry enormous moral weight inside the company to make the changes that are required. Steve Jobs goes into Apple and says — times are changing, we need to do X. And X is heresy compared to everything Apple had done. Steve Jobs, a founder, is going to be able to convince the company.
A professional CEO shows up and says the same thing and everybody's kind of like — ooh, I don't know.
A founder says 'we need to do heresy' and convinces them. A professional CEO says it and everyone goes — I don't know.