Divided leadership in a technology driven company


0

Is it possible to run a start-up with divided leadership ? The company has two partners, Sam and John. Both come from a technology background and both are MS and experienced in almost same domain. Both share a common vision, at the same time both partners want to implement their ideas for making the company a big success.

1-Do you think in such a case dividing the leadership between the two partners can lead to success?

2- If not, then what can be the best way so both the partners can work cooperatively?

Leadership

asked Aug 8 '12 at 20:28
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Gpuguy
102 points
  • Welcome to onstartups.com. You might want to review the [FAQ](http://answers.onstartups.com/faq) since as it stands you are soliciting an opinion of from the group which can vary. – Karlson 12 years ago

4 Answers


2

Some additional info would be helpful.

  1. headcount: are we talking about 5 people or 50?
  2. company maturity stage: idea, customer traction, growth
  3. company focus: technology marketplace
  4. personality traits: is one more outward focused / personable?

Depending of the above information, one could functionally split the work between a CTO and a VP engineering title. But titles are worthless if the company size doesn't support it.

Regardless of the above, Chemistry trumps all - if they work great together, and can respect each others input - then division of labor will occur naturally if they are equally motivated to be successful.

IF there is a problem about who reports to whom and the company is just starting up, you likely have bigger issues then.

answered Aug 9 '12 at 04:54
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Jim Galley
9,952 points

0

Is it possible? Absolutely! As long as there is a good operating agreement, solid division of duties, and process in place to help arbiter/mediate disagreements. There really should be a third person (usually independent with a small share in the company) who will cast a vote that breaks up a stalemate.
As someone who has to mediate founder conflicts, I can't stress enough importance of those items. I have seen nasty lawsuits and broken companies after founder feuds.

P.S. I have deal with "rotating leadership". It was a case of two brothers (equal partners) who rotated CEO spot every 12 months. I probably can write a book about that disaster.

answered Sep 10 '12 at 12:02
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Apollo Sinkevicius
3,323 points

-2

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

Look at RIM for perfect example

Your best bet if you can't decide, it to hire someone as CEO, and both of you become VPs, or C-Levels. Say you're good @ Databases, and he's good at coding, make him CTO and yourself CIO; or something along those lines. Problem with co-CEOs is things rarely get done, because even though your ideas are aligned now, they may not be as the company matures.

answered Aug 11 '12 at 05:48
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User60812
820 points

-2

I think a rotating leadership model (a few years span) will be better.

answered Aug 9 '12 at 01:31
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Slay
154 points
  • -1 This is a comment not an answer. – Karlson 12 years ago

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