Adam Leventhal

I can confess. I was a little glad we had a hiatus. That piece came out. You wrote a nice blog post. Other folks were chatting about it. I was glad. For a moment that we'd have to talk about it. Okay.

I mean, first, I mean, first three reactions were, thank God we're not. And they got our brain next week. And you're saying, and you saying like, you didn't want to talk about it. I was like, I'm just going to mute notifications against Brian DMS me or something. I'm just, I'm off the grid. It felt so. So Paul Graham's piece is,

I mean, first, I mean, first three reactions were, thank God we're not. And they got our brain next week. And you're saying, and you saying like, you didn't want to talk about it. I was like, I'm just going to mute notifications against Brian DMS me or something. I'm just, I'm off the grid. It felt so. So Paul Graham's piece is,

felt so nonspecific that it was going to be inevitably used as a justification for founders to do whatever they wanted. Yeah. To rationalize whatever sort of like terrible decisions were being made or whatever cultural decisions had been made with very, almost a justification for a lack of introspection. And I mean, that's probably what rankled you so much too.

felt so nonspecific that it was going to be inevitably used as a justification for founders to do whatever they wanted. Yeah. To rationalize whatever sort of like terrible decisions were being made or whatever cultural decisions had been made with very, almost a justification for a lack of introspection. And I mean, that's probably what rankled you so much too.

It's just like it, that that's what grinds so much. The, the, these, these kind of little aphorisms that people say, I'm going to do it my way because conventional wisdom is tautologically busted and therefore founder mode. Therefore, founder mode.

It's just like it, that that's what grinds so much. The, the, these, these kind of little aphorisms that people say, I'm going to do it my way because conventional wisdom is tautologically busted and therefore founder mode. Therefore, founder mode.

Yeah. I mean, sort of. I don't know.

Yeah. I mean, sort of. I don't know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, the term manager mode feels like so easily pejorative. You know what I mean? Oh, it's super easy pejorative. Yes. Like managers are the enemy. Yes. It's like, do you want to be manager? And as much as founder mode is such like a great mean nothing aphorism that you could use to potentially justify behavior, management mode is such like a Just such a burn, right? It is such a burn.

Yeah. I mean, the term manager mode feels like so easily pejorative. You know what I mean? Oh, it's super easy pejorative. Yes. Like managers are the enemy. Yes. It's like, do you want to be manager? And as much as founder mode is such like a great mean nothing aphorism that you could use to potentially justify behavior, management mode is such like a Just such a burn, right? It is such a burn.

It's like if you were saying something in a meeting and someone was like, oh, nice management mode there. Yeah, be like, oh, never mind. I'm leaving.

It's like if you were saying something in a meeting and someone was like, oh, nice management mode there. Yeah, be like, oh, never mind. I'm leaving.

Spot on. And I think that... I'm sure you've seen this from VCs, like... There's so little weight often put on experience and expertise and the past. I've talked to VCs who say, I only want to work with founders who can conjure things from first principles. And I think there is something valuable to that. There is something valuable to saying, I'm just going to educate myself on a topic.

Spot on. And I think that... I'm sure you've seen this from VCs, like... There's so little weight often put on experience and expertise and the past. I've talked to VCs who say, I only want to work with founders who can conjure things from first principles. And I think there is something valuable to that. There is something valuable to saying, I'm just going to educate myself on a topic.

But it's just so dismissive of everything that came before. Oh, absolutely. And there was a time in my career when I got hit up by recruiters for this one particular role. And the role was usually founder CTO who couldn't manage 10 people. Now the team was 100 people. And they wanted to bring me in.

But it's just so dismissive of everything that came before. Oh, absolutely. And there was a time in my career when I got hit up by recruiters for this one particular role. And the role was usually founder CTO who couldn't manage 10 people. Now the team was 100 people. And they wanted to bring me in.

No, that's totally, that's right. It was kind of first adult mold, but almost to a person, the CTO would kind of describe the role as like, we've got this cake. I enjoy eating cake, but mostly I like eating frosting. So I'm going to lick off all the frosting. And then I thought you as the first adult would enjoy eating the rest of the cake.