Startup founders in high technology

Abstract

Startup founders are thought to be the super women and men of the technology world these days. Many founders transition into the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) role within their companies and are expected to have the knowledge to lead large organizations through these fast growth and transition periods at a rate much faster than previously encountered in history. While some founders have backgrounds and experience to leverage in order to help them, many do not. Regardless, many high technology founder CEOs are leading companies that grow from nothing into billion dollar valuations and various stages of growth or failure between. This thesis seeks to investigate key traits of high technology founder CEOs, the technologies they create and manage, and research surrounding their transition from founder into the CEO role to include leadership characteristics. An effort will be made to further understand what contributes to a founder CEOs success and based on that recommendations will be given providing some key guidelines. Lastly, example cases will be showcased to highlight how and what founder CEOs have and are doing to create success for not only them, but also their companies, investors, and employees.