Tale of how a startup can destroy your company by becoming its director

I would like to take a break from the usual theme of employee monitoring and talk about the metamorphosis that happens to people when they change the starter’s worn jeans to the CEO's costume.

The fact is that “an ideal start-up” and “an ideal director” are two so different types that they practically do not overlap. To create a startup you need to be adventurous, risky, not demanding in everyday life (start-ups usually don’t bring money), flexible (one concept didn’t work - we abandon it and implement another), and also - drunkenly hard-working.
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The director is not a dreamer, but an administrator. He does not manage concepts, but real business. He has far fewer rights to make a mistake - a start-up can bring a company to bankruptcy, and then start all over again with ease. Directors for such "pranks" will be deprived of their posts and will not take anywhere else.

The director needs not to create something new, he needs to develop the existing one, to raise the company to a new level. He is responsible, neat, knows how to customize and optimize business processes, understands people.

In general, you can talk for a long time, instead I will cite two real stories about the two companies, where the leaders were good founders, but useless directors.

Two comrades lived in Moscow. And then somehow they were fascinated by the topic of KPI and Balanced ScoreCard. They began to develop their methods and implement them in Russian companies. And in order not to do it on paper, they found in Finland a company that made software for managing these KPIs and BSCs. Translated its products, adapted for our market and began to conduct business.

Long or short, but the Finnish company decided to enter the Russian market. And in order to minimize the risks of opening an office in a country unknown to them, I wanted to buy the business of two friends. To immediately and the client base to get two experienced managers. Two friends were not fools and asked the Finns a lot - money is two barrels of gold (of course I am joking, but the amount was decent) and the right to work in Finland half the time (with obtaining a residence permit for them and families). Shook hands.

Changed the sign and recruited staff. One of the friends became the CEO, and the second commercial. And here it turned out that the guys worked well in the two-men-show mode, but could not manage the team. Yes, and the fact of selling the company at a high price for them became an indicator that life was a success and then you can not strain.

Working time in Finland turned for them on vacation. They fished, walked for hours, slept until dinner. The calls of the employees did not respond by themselves. When the wife of the general was giving birth, the director disappeared for a month. Well, I just disappeared, I did not contact me, I turned off the phones.

For a while, the company kept afloat at the expense of the enthusiasm of new employees. Webinars were held, deals closed, work was done with partners. Then the enthusiasm ended and the Finnish-Russian Titanic began his journey into the depths of the business ocean.

The Finns realized it (and where were they before?), Changed the director for the representative of the people of Suomi, sending the old ones to resign. Well, here to all the troubles added the conflict between the old and the new leadership. Finn year old pobarahtalsya in Russian reality and with a sense of accomplishment, he departed for his homeland.

Talk about further perturbations is not interesting. As a result, the Russian office was liquidated and sales to Russia come from Finland.

The second story is not so dramatic, since for quite a long time the company described in it was in the hands of professional managers and managed to earn a margin of safety.

So, there were two friends in the same CIS country (two again!). The old woman weaved the yarn, and the old man threw the net. One wrote the program, and the second sold it. Distributed by acquaintances, familiar acquaintances, familiar acquaintances acquaintances. Gradually, the infa about this program dispersed throughout the city, and since the city was neither low nor high, it was not so small, though not metropolitan, it was enough for food and clothing.

Then at one conference, he met with the leaders of a Moscow company that was engaged in the promotion of software. And these leaders wanted to promote the program in Mother Russia. Of course, friends agreed, this is what kind of market is floating in its hands, the main thing is that you don’t need to do anything for sales, only the percentage is gone.

For several years, the promotion of the program, especially no one was engaged and it was not sold very well. But friends and it suited - even a small amount is better than zero rubles zero kopecks ...
And then there was a new business development manager, he began to actively sell this program. Staff recruited, marketing promoted. Volumes increased. All this program began to know, love and buy.

Well, of course, there were investments, a company (consisting of two friends) was bought, made a Russian, and was assigned a manager by the director. The founder who was a programmer and continued the system to refine. And the one that sold ... well, then began to sell in his hometown. True, the CIS crisis struck, wars, oil prices collapsed - the market sank heavily, sales plummeted. And only in Russia, everything is fine.

And everything would be fine, work is in full swing, the value of the company is growing, life goes on, but the founder did not want to be a high noble, wanted to be the ruler of the sea to be incomprehensible in his company. This is his offspring, this is he did not eat up, did not finish, but with all his might in the hometown he sold, when nobody knew about this program and nobody needed it.

He started a conflict and survived a manager from the company. And happiness came to him. And companies are stagnating. For what experience was a person in the development of business, I have repeatedly written.
No, the company did not fall apart, because due to well-established business processes, Kate Winslet was kept afloat like a heroine on the cover of a grand piano. The only question is what could she have achieved if ...

The moral of this story is as follows.

Some people create companies, others develop them. Is it always like this? Of course not - there are a small number of exceptions: Jobs, Zuckerberg, Paige with Brin, Durov ... But more often on news feeds there are messages about how one or another founder left the CEO chair to release it for a professional manager.
Those who are able to change and grow - become great leaders of great companies.

Well this is practically a toast ...
For the great leaders of great companies!