Author Description

Based on decades of empirical research and data, Founders, Keepers gives founders a practical roadmap for navigating the inevitable challenges that come with startup growth. Every founder is a time bomb waiting to explode. Why? Because the same personal attributes a founder needs to launch a startup will invariably blow it up. Successful founders learn how to defuse their worst impulses and build durable companies. But most don’t. For founders, investors, and academics alike, Founders, Keepers is the distillation of a lengthy collaboration between Rich Hagberg, Silicon Valley’s “CEO Whisperer,” and his client Tien Tzuo, founder and CEO of Zuora. Steeped in nearly 40 years of research in leadership psychology, it delivers a Swiss Army knife of mental models and practical tools that will give founders a much better chance of making it to the next level of success. This sharp, lively guide gives readers insights into: The three pillars of leadership every founder needs to be successful How certain personality traits can lead to fatally flawed decisions Common blind spots, including the default tendencies and leadership styles that often undermine success The key factors that differentiate successful and unsuccessful founders Why founders often frustrate their investors, partners, and employees—and what to do instead It’s a difficult but unavoidable truth: in order to grow a startup, you have to grow as a person. Founders may be unable to account for all the complexities entailed in scaling a company, but they can learn how to account for themselves. Founders, Keepers offers the way forward.