9 months post-seed, a founder realizes he hates what the CEO role requires. Step down or stay? Three guests, three perspectives.
The dilemma
A VC-backed founder 9 months post-seed with a team of 15 has come to a realization: he hates what his CEO role now requires.
All he wants is to throw himself back into the complex, undefined product challenges, but instead he’s stuck in people management, hiring conversations and building processes.
He has no intention of leaving the company, but is considering stepping aside.
What scares him most is admitting to his lead investor, who’s been with them since pre-product, that he’s the wrong person for the role because it feels like betraying the reason they invested in the first place.
Is stepping aside the right call, or is there a way to redesign the role instead?
The guests
In this episode of The Founder to Leader Podcast, host Yohanna Gustafsson is joined by:
- Founder Michael Karlsen: co-founded Onomondo in 2012, served as CEO for 8 years and stepped down in 2025
- Investor Sara Rywe: general partner at byFounders and investor in Lovable, Corti, Sumary, etc.
- Leadership coach Mia Jung: has coached more than 200 founders in leadership development and the psychology of startup organizations
What we unpack
- Why the CEO role is a different job every year, even if the title stays the same
- How to tell whether you’re driven by insecurity about your abilities or by a real lack of motivation for the work
- Why hating certain tasks isn’t the same as hating the role
- The two paths an investor sees: keeping the title and building a team around you, or handing it over
- Why bringing in an external CEO at an early stage can send a negative signal to investors
- Which parts of the job a venture-backed CEO can’t delegate
- How founders can redesign the CEO role to fit their strengths, instead of fitting themselves to a stereotype
Listen to the episode here:
