06
Nov
Thu
in-person
Founder’s Mentality: The Scalable Alternative to Heroics
Much has been written recently about the trade-offs between running a startup in “Founder Mode” an intense, hands-on operating style, compared to shifting into “Manager Mode” to enable rapid scale. While both approaches have their place, I believe there’s a more effective path - ensuring the company’s culture is grounded in a Founder’s Mentality.
Drawing on lessons from my time at founder-led companies, including: Sun Microsystems, Amazon, Airbnb, and WheelsUp, we’ll explore how embedding a Founder’s Mentality can offer a more durable, scalable, and energizing alternative, while avoiding some of the more common mistakes that occur while scaling a company.
The challenge is to preserve the urgency, vision and front-line obsession of the founder, combined with demanding the discipline and repeatability of a high-functioning operating system. This approach supports long-term sustainable growth.
The session will introduce key principles of what it means to build with a Founder’s Mentality and set the stage for our breakout discussions on how to scale teams, process and culture.
Speaker
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Greg Greeley
Global Leader and past President of Airbnb.
Greg Greeley has spent over 30 years in global leadership roles across industries including e-commerce, aerospace, hospitality, and biotech. He served as the President of Airbnb and has held senior executive positions at Amazon, and Sun Microsystems during their rapid growth phases. During his tenure at each company he led the launch of multiple new business initiatives, and oversaw the acquisition of 14 founder-led companies.
Greg subsequently served as President of Opentrons (a robotics, genome engineering and diagnostics startup), helping grow the company from $100M to unicorn status during a two-year period of hyper-growth, while also advising WheelsUp during its IPO. Most recently, he was CEO of Thrasio leading a major restructuring and transformation effort.
Today, Greg works with Tapas Capital and TCV, advising early-stage and growth-stage founders that are building disruptive companies.
Program
4:00 PM - 4:30 PM
Arrive and Check in
Connect with fellow attendees before the event kicks off—arrive on time to make valuable connections and start building relationships that could accelerate your founder journey.
4:30 PM - 5:15 PM
Speaker: Greg Greeley
Much has been written recently about the trade-offs between running a startup in “Founder Mode” an intense, hands-on operating style, compared to shifting into “Manager Mode” to enable rapid scale. While both approaches have their place, I believe there’s a more effective path - ensuring the company’s culture is grounded in a Founder’s Mentality.
01
all founders,
not just ceo
People inclined to be Founders are a rare breed, and are hard to spot in society. We welcome ALL Founders, regardless of role, and generate proprietary profiles for every member so you can easily find your next team member or co-Founder.
02
current founders
Regardless of where you are on your journey, Founders share a unique set of challenges. Hiring, leadership, managing investors, developing products, handling customer issues, external communications, etc. This community exists to amplify your success.
03
TRANSITIONING FOUNDERS
So you’ve founded at least one company, and now you’re looking to refine your next great idea or find the perfect co-founder. Share and learn from a wide array of talented Founders in your area.
04
CURIOUS FOUNDERS
Congratulations! You’ve found success as a Founder and are now getting curious about doing it again. Now you need to find the right idea and co-founder to excite you. Share your wisdom and passion while forming new bonds within the startup ecosystem in your area.
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