Top Startup Coach: Why Your Team Won’t Tell You the Truth (And How to Fix It) | Alisa Cohn

Alisa Cohn (0:00)

Most workplaces, right, large companies, small companies, are filled with fourth graders and sixth graders acting out.

Dara (0:07)

You hear about Steve Jobs and Elon Musk's management styles, and they get amazing results. What is the bar of aggressive good and aggressive bad?

Alisa Cohn (0:15)

Isn't that the million dollar question, right?

Dara (0:17)

What are some things that you would advise founders prior to three years ago that you've changed your mind because of AI?

Alisa Cohn (0:24)

It used to be like over hiring was kind of normal. I think over hiring is no longer acceptable. Do your fucking job.

Dara (0:30)

So excited to have Alisa Cohn here. She's one of the leading executive coaches for founders and leaders at places like Google, Microsoft, Venmo, Etsy, Glean.

The list goes on and she's an expert in scaling leadership during turbulent times, which before AI might have just been associated with growth, but now it's like every week is turbulent. It's a tornado. So, I feel like very prescient to have you here.

Alisa Cohn (0:58)

I'm so excited to be here really, truly to be in your office and to find out more of what you guys are doing. Yeah.

Dara (1:03)

I think I've spoken to you Delphi more than I've spoken to you. So, it's good to have.

Alisa Cohn (1:06)

That's great.

Dara (1:07)

The real person here. Yeah. I want to start with a topic that has been the top of Silicon Valley mind for the last two years, which is Founder Mode.

Founder Mode has given founders and leaders way more permission to get in the weeds. I'm curious what has Silicon Valley and founders most misunderstood about the concept of Founder Mode and where it could potentially go wrong.

Alisa Cohn (1:29)

Yeah. I love that question. So, of course, we all know that Founder Mode is like this thing that Brian Chesky talked about in Polygram Popularize which is around getting in there more with your hands as a founder.

I actually think that's fantastic. I think that's actually essential and fantastic. In the age of AI, what I'm finding the best Founder Mode is, is that founders are actually building the thing they want their team to build at least as a demo and a prototype in order to show them. Actually, there's nothing more powerful than being like this. This is what I want. Let me show you what I want in a very working prototype kind of way, but also to your point, lead by example. I'm getting there with the tools, I'm pushing myself to think differently. So, I love that about Founder Mode.

I would also add that even aside from the age of AI, the idea of Founder Mode is, I care, I'm the spiritual leader, I'm directing the team, and it's, I think, super important for the ability to zoom in when something is super important. But equally important, and this is where Founder Mode can go wrong, it's important to be able to zoom out when it's like, okay, the team has it, it's all working. It's not 100 percent maybe the way I would do it, but actually the team maybe has better ideas than I do. So their ability to let the team run with something is the only way it's going to scale, and the team is also going to thrive. I think that Founder Mode can go wrong when it does substitute for either I can be a micromanager, or worse, I can be a jerk. Those are bad executions of Founder Mode.

Dara (2:57)

Have you had examples since the term got popularized of founders that you've worked with, where they reacted to that and them getting the details was very good, and then them getting the details was very bad? Any specific examples?

Alisa Cohn (3:09)

Sure. I mean, there's one founder I work with, and I would say that as Founder Mode, I'm going to just be really circumspect about this, but as Founder Mode has became more in her mindset, she was able to take something that was strategic and stuck and move it forward.

Dara (3:30)

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You can ask Alisa's Digital Mind, just check the link in the comments or description.

Alisa Cohn (3:37)

And the team also didn't like the new mode. So there was a whole bunch of dialogue around like, you're micromanaging.

And I think to some extent, I think she was micromanaging. I think that there was a way in which she was not giving enough direction. It was a little bit like, I think Founder Mode can also go wrong when it's like, do this, now do this, now do this as opposed to wait, wait, wait. Here's where we're going. Here are some of the things that I see along the way. You may have better ideas, but this is what I see.