The "CEO of the product" role at a large company involves managing the inertia of an already successful product. This is fundamentally different from founding, which requires creating value from nothing with no existing momentum. The skill sets are deceptively dissimilar.
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A founder's real boss is their customer base. While keeping a board happy is important, some CEOs become so consumed with managing up that they lose sight of the product and customer needs, ultimately driving the company off a cliff despite running perfect board meetings.
Success brings knowledge, but it also creates a bias against trying unconventional ideas. Early-stage entrepreneurs are "too dumb to know it was dumb," allowing them to take random shots with high upside. Experienced founders often filter these out, potentially missing breakthroughs, fun, and valuable memories.
The ideal founder archetype starts with deep technical expertise and product sense. They then develop exceptional business and commercial acumen over time, a rarer and more powerful combination than a non-technical founder learning the product.
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To be truly successful, a product leader cannot just focus on features and users. They must operate as the head of their product's business, with a deep understanding of P&Ls, revenue drivers, and capital allocation. Without this business acumen, they risk fundamentally undercutting their product's potential impact and success.
Lacking deep category knowledge fosters the naivety and ambition required for groundbreaking startups. This "beginner's mind" avoids preconceived limitations and allows for truly novel approaches, unlike the incrementalism that experience can sometimes breed. It is a gift, not a curse.
Instead of chasing trends or pivoting every few weeks, founders should focus on a singular mission that stems from their unique expertise and conviction. This approach builds durable, meaningful companies rather than simply chasing valuations.
Bending Spoons' product lead argues that the ideal PM background is either entrepreneurial, which teaches focus on impactful work, or deeply analytical, which fosters an understanding of root causes. These two paths provide the core skills needed for product leadership.
Successor CEOs cannot replicate the founder's all-encompassing "working memory" of the company and its products. Recognizing this is key. The role must shift from knowing everything to building a cohesive team and focusing on the few strategic decisions only the CEO can make.
Working at a startup early in your career provides exposure across the entire hardware/software stack, a breadth that pays dividends later. Naveen Rao argues that large companies, by design, hire for specific, repeatable tasks, which can limit an engineer's adaptability and holistic problem-solving skills.
