Founders Syndrome Is a Real Thing, Says Craigslist Founder

“I wasn’t temperamentally suited to be CEO or really any kind of manager,” says Craiglist founder Craig Newmark. “So I was thinking maybe it is time to step down. I had also read about something called founder syndrome where somebody who’s good at starting something is really terrible at keeping it going. The biggest lesson is that founders syndrome is a real thing. The faster you think about that and then step down the better off you are.”

Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, discusses the reality of founders syndrome where an entrepreneur might be really good at starting something but horrible at managing the business going forward in an Inc. featured video:

As a Manager I Suck

I can applaud myself thinking that it only took me a few months to overcome founder syndrome as opposed to running the company into the ground. The history of the first five years of Craigslist was just me running the thing, one year running it with volunteers, then after making it a company, one year with me as CEO. But towards the end of that year, people were kind enough to help me understand that as a manager I suck. I needed to find people who might be much better at it than I was. They were suggesting that maybe I didn’t have the right skill mix to be CEO. These are people who really cared about the site who believed and they were right.

Founders Syndrome Is a Real Thing

I wasn’t temperamentally suited to be CEO or really any kind of manager. So I was thinking maybe it is time to step down. I had also read about something called founder syndrome where somebody who’s good at starting something is really terrible at keeping it going. My decision to step down, well I winced a little bit because it was my creation and I didn’t want to feel stupid if I had made a big mistake. But it’s worked out and I don’t have regrets about stepping down. The biggest lesson is that founders syndrome is a real thing. The faster you think about that and then step down the better off you are. That worked out.