Want to Get Into Founder Mode? You Should Be So Lucky

Fledgling founders entering a three-month residency at Y Combinator often start their term with a bang: Brian Chesky, the cofounder and CEO of Airbnb, fires off an inspirational speech. Y Combinator cofounder and nonresident guru Paul Graham reports that the talk so dazzled the budding tech moguls, alumni, and top investors that some were calling it the best talk they ever heard. He published an essay on his thoughts entitled “Founder Mode.” People haven’t stopped talking about it since. Specifically, Graham was moved by Chesky’s confession that during Airbnb’s rise, he listened to the investors who told him he needed professional management to help direct the company's growth. His instincts told him otherwise, but he gave in and took the advice to “hire professional fakers and let them drive the company into the ground.” In Graham’s view, there are two types of executives, founders and managers, and the latter are mostly frauds.