Vikrant Pratap identifies what can go wrong when founders bring in outside leadership and how to avoid these three common errors.
What Founders Get Wrong About Bringing in a CEO
A few weeks ago, I was in the final stages of interviewing for a CEO role at a deep-tech business — impressive IP, committed long-term investors, and a team that was genuinely smart, professional, and easy to like.
I’d already met with the investors and non-executive directors. Those conversations had gone well, and the next step was spending time with the founding team.
Several hours in, the discussions were substantive — strategy, sales, operations, finance. Then a few things gave me pause.
- One founder said they weren’t looking for a CEO with “traditional reporting lines.” – translation: “Don’t expect me to be accountable to you.”
- There was no budgeting process and there was a reluctance to bringing in a CFO as in the past they didn’t see much value being added by the role
- When I asked how much they needed to raise, they weren’t sure, but said their priority would be to use the funds to hire more software developers – that’s in a business that was already technically strong and needed to grow its commercial capability first.
I’ve been a founder. I know how deeply personal it becomes when someone challenges what you’ve built.
But here’s the thing: the moment you decide to bring in an experienced CEO — and your investors are actively backing that search — something has to shift.
Not because of hierarchy. Not because of reporting lines.
Because the whole point of bringing in outside leadership is to get expertise, challenge, and accountability that you don’t currently have. If a founder isn’t willing to be held to the same standard they expect from others, that dynamic will undermine everything — strategy, fundraising, team performance.