Founders are inventors. They create extraordinary things — products that captivate us, entertain us, enrich us, transport us, and even heal us.
But a funny thing happens once those inventions get into customers’ hands. The founder needs to shift from inventing a product to running a business.
While invention requires unique insight, persistence, and a good bit of luck, running a company is a skill to be learned. But how is a founder, consumed by the demands of a growing business, expected to learn those skills?
That’s where we come in.
We’ve guided nearly 200 startups in the decade since our founding in 2015. Our partners have supported startups as they ascended, transformed into beautiful unicorns, or experienced successful exits. Our global community of founders raves about us. They even tell their venture capital investors and board members about us. I know this because I’ve been in the room when they’ve done so.
They heap credit upon us so lavishly it makes us blush. And yet, investors don’t send founders our way.
Why?
Why don’t venture capital investors flock to our firm and beat down our doors to work with their founders despite the evidence of our success? Why don’t they care about the professional development of the founders they invest in?
For a long time, I was baffled by this paradox. But no longer.
Investors are devoted to math, not people. They are governed by power law.
Anyone who follows the venture capital industry knows this term. Venture investors wear it like a badge of honor — a reflection of how hard it is to sift through thousands of startups for the rare gem that might one day become a global brand. And they’re right. It is hard.
In fact, investors know that if they do a really good job, one out of every 100 investments will grow into a giant. If the VC is vigilant and lucky, they’ll write a check to the next Coinbase, Shopify, Airbnb, Netflix, Tesla, or Uber.
And making that one bet is all that matters to them. The operating skill of the founder is secondary.
They believe:
- The rare startup that hits overwhelming product-market fit will win no matter what, even if the founder is in over their head.
- Such rare startups need gobs of capital.
- Raising a lot of capital inevitably means investors will control the board. So, once investors decide another CEO might be a better fit, the board can simply replace the founder.
Are investors opposed to startup CEOs getting better at their jobs? Of course not. But do they care enough about improving a founder’s skills to invest in that endeavor? No.
But what about all the “value creation” efforts funded by venture — talent, community, and platform teams?
Theater.
Platform and talent teams are run by incredibly earnest, well-intentioned folks who are purposely underfunded by the VCs for whom they work. They’re provided just enough resources to fuel a good marketing story. Just enough for investors to brag to LPs or founders. Just enough to fund an annual LP summit. But not enough to actually make an impact on the operational capabilities of their CEOs.
Here’s the thing: It makes sense for venture capitalists to care about the rare investment that reaches escape velocity and generates a massive return. That’s what will deliver value to LPs, allow for the next fund to be raised, and unlock capital for future investments.
But while the venture industry cares about one out of every 100 startups, we know founders care about every single one of those startups. And Enjoy The Work is here for all 100.
So while we’ve been fortunate to play a role with a number of giant startups — companies now worth billions of dollars — we’ve also been there for our founders who bootstrapped to profitability, fulfilled their earn-outs, or cashed out for a $50M outcome. Almost all of those founders were ignored, if not chastised, by their investors. But we celebrated them.
We want founders never to worry about being fired by their boards again. We want them to learn to be great operators capable of leading a company not just at launch but through growth, scale, and beyond. If a founder one day chooses to step down, that’s wonderful. But we want them to have the choice. And that means supporting founders who wish to work on their craft.
That’s why we’re here — for all 100.
Fuck the power law.