Comments on: Founderitis – A Ten Step Recovery Program

By: Unlike You, Mark Zuckerberg Can Go Both Ways

Unlike You, Mark Zuckerberg Can Go Both Ways — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:17:33 +0000

[...] noted in Founderitis, Founders and other early members of a startup are ideally suited to reacting instinctually and [...]

By: Putting “Trade” Back Into Tradeshows

Putting “Trade” Back Into Tradeshows — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:02:30 +0000

[...] was at the tradeshow is indicative of some of the challenges we faced as a management team – see Founderitis for suggestions regarding how to deal with a rogue, misguided [...]

By: Effective Startup 360-Performance Reviews

Effective Startup 360-Performance Reviews — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 15:40:25 +0000

[...] Founderitis – if the senior executives are not open to criticism, a 360-review will be a counterproductive [...]

By: Quora

Quora — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 03:45:48 +0000

What essential skills do startup founders generally lack?…

Unfortunately, many Founders lack objectivity, especially when it comes to evaluating their own ideas. Unchecked, this condition leads to Founderitis. Lack of objectivity is generally not a problem in a startup’s early days, as the Founder’s passion …

By: Rules for Entrepreneurs: 5 Ways to Avoid Founderitis — Technosailor.com

Rules for Entrepreneurs: 5 Ways to Avoid Founderitis — Technosailor.com — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 07:14:05 +0000

[...] I came across this funny diagnosis from Infoshackle.com and it comes complete with a 12 step program. [...]

By: Johann Rosenthal

Johann Rosenthal — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 04:51:15 +0000

Great article. No nine person volleyball teams that I know of though. Using 6 players aside would have worked just as well for your purposes.

Keep ‘em coming! Always insightful!

-Rosen

By: John Greathouse

John Greathouse — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 05:20:20 +0000

Nice blog entry Alec. Too true.

By: 3 lessons for start-up founders from Wikileaks — Calliflower

3 lessons for start-up founders from Wikileaks — Calliflower — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 17:11:36 +0000

[...] quickly become bottlenecks to growth. This illness is so common that it even has a name – “Founderitis”. In Wikileaks case, Assange reportedly vettes every document before release personally. The [...]

By: Know When To Declare Defeat And Toss Out A Bad Idea | infoChachkie

Know When To Declare Defeat And Toss Out A Bad Idea | infoChachkie — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:08:33 +0000

[...] down and egos began to inappropriately influence the company’s decision making process. Barry’s Founderitis exacerbated Motown’s idea cronyism by frequently and arbitrarily wielding his veto [...]

By: JMA

JMA — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:59:40 +0000

I like the analogy of trying to play a two-player game with nine players on the team. I’ve noticed founders often most paranoid and plagued by the idea of ‘adult supervision’ are those that have experienced a coup in a previous start-up where they did not have the experience of professional investors involved in their venture. Thus is the importance of founderitis recovery by seeking professional help.

A nine player team will always outperform any two-player team, unless it is nine infants v. two professional players (I suppose that analogy may apply to some ventures). I believe having experienced players brought to the team to allow founders the ability to focus on where they can contribute to the team the most is a blessing and not a curse.

When professional investors get involved with a venture and ask for ‘onerous demands’ like, board seats and preferred shares, there really isn’t anything sinister or scary about it. They’re protecting their investment by implementing best business practices. Period.

I guess that applies to http://www.infochachkie.com/horrendous-investor-pitch/ and how to ‘Not Put Yourself in Your Audience’s Shoes’. Hey, if there’s no desire to deal with the headaches of ‘pesky professional investors’ then just keep on drinkin’.

-JMA