Jonathan Lowenhar: Why founder is a state, CEO is a craft

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

December 5, 2024

Duration

1h 34m

Channel

Lenny's Podcast

Watch on YouTube

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📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Jonathan Lowenhar is the co-founder of Enjoy The Work, an executive coaching firm that helps founders become great CEOs. Over the past decade, Enjoy The Work has supported over 165 founders on their journey to becoming better leaders. In our conversation, we discuss:

• The difference between being a founder and being a CEO
• Common failure modes for startup CEOs and how to avoid them
• The four key elements of an effective go-to-market strategy
• A framework for evaluating potential acquisitions: the magic box paradigm
• How to find and hire the best people
• How to build a repeatable GTM machine
• Why founders need to trust their intuition
• Much more

— Brought to you by:

• Pendo—The only all-in-one product experience platform for any type of application: https://www.pendo.io/lenny
• OneSchema—Import CSV data 10x faster: https://oneschema.co/lenny
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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-a-great-founder-becomes-a-great-ceo-jonathan-lowenhar Where to find Jonathan Lowenhar:

• X: https://x.com/jlowenhar
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jlowenhar/
• Enjoy the Work: https://etw.live/lenny

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Jonathan’s background (02:56) Understanding the rhythm of well-run companies (09:20) The founder mode vs. manager mode debate (12:05) Common company failure modes (13:36) Common CEO failure modes (25:25) The magic box paradigm for selling your startup (43:07) Advice for founders on building relationships (49:28) Hiring and building an amazing team (57:11) Types of executives: architect, optimizer, scaler (59:45) Working backward in hiring (01:02:54) Four key components of a go-to-market strategy (01:15:01) Trusting founder intuition (01:19:12) Founder vs. CEO: different roles, different skills (01:20:52) Closing thoughts and lightning round Referenced:

• Founder mode memes: https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/04/those-founder-mode-memes-keep-coming/
• Founder mode: https://paulgraham.com/foundermode.html
• “Founder Mode” Is a Dangerous Red Herring: https://enjoythework.com/founder-mode-is-a-dangerous-red-herring/
• Magic Box Paradigm: A Framework for Startup Acquisitions: https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Box-Paradigm-Framework-Acquisitions/dp/0692778047
• Facebook Buys Instagram for $1 Billion: https://archive.nytimes.com/dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/facebook-buys-instagram-for-1-billion/
• Chris Voss on X: https://x.com/fbinegotiator
• Who: https://www.amazon.com/Who-Geoff-Smart/dp/0345504194
• Brian Chesky on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianchesky/
• Joe Gebbia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jgebbia/
• Nathan Blecharczyk on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blecharczyk/
• 4 questions Shreyas Doshi wishes he’d asked himself sooner | Former PM leader at Stripe, Twitter, Google: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/shreyas-doshi-live
• Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth: https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Startup-Achieve-Explosive-Customer/dp/1591848369
• Adam Grant on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adammgrant/
• This will make you a better decision maker | Annie Duke (author of “Thinking in Bets” and “Quit,” former pro poker player): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/making-better-decisions-annie-duke
• How to identify your ideal customer profile (ICP): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-identify-your-ideal-customer
• How to get your marketing team to drive more impact: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-get-your-marketing-team-to
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable: https://www.amazon.com/Five-Dysfunctions-Team-Leadership-Fable/dp/0787960756
• The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself: https://www.amazon.com/Untethered-Soul-Journey-Beyond-Yourself/dp/1572245379
• Will & Harper on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81760197
• Slow Horses on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/slow-horses/umc.cmc.2szz3fdt71tl1ulnbp8utgq5o
• Aura frames: https://auraframes.com/
• Augie studio: https://augie.studio/
• Harrah’s Entertainment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrah%27s_Entertainment

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Lenny Rachitsky

  host

• Jonathan Lowenhar

  guest

• Christina (OneSchema)

  guest

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lenny's Podcast, featuring Lenny Rachitsky and Jonathan Lowenhar, Jonathan Lowenhar: Why founder is a state, CEO is a craft explores from inspired founder to skilled CEO: mastering startup leadership craft Jonathan Lowenhar, co-founder of Enjoy The Work, explains why being a great founder and being a great CEO are fundamentally different jobs—one is an attitude, the other is a craft that must be learned.

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