The people who start companies are special people. We call them founders in the startup world and I have had the opportunity to work with many of them over the years.
They bring all sorts of important things to the companies they start (or help to start). One of those things is a level of commitment, responsibility, and care that others rarely bring to a company.
I was reminded of that today when I saw what Eric Wahlforss, one of the two founders of our portfolio company SoundCloud, wrote about his decision to step away from the company after 11 years:
After 11+ years of building SoundCloud, it is time for me to take a break, reflect and think about what’s next.
— Eric Wahlforss (@ericw) January 24, 2019
I will be stepping back from day-to-day operations and into an advisory role on March 1st.
I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved and deeply grateful. pic.twitter.com/71DQ8h0Sjv
Eric did pretty much every job in the company at one time or another, including being the CEO for a three month period in 2016. He gave SoundCloud everything he had for eleven years.
Startups are incredibly chaotic organizations with a lot of change. Very few people can make it through all of that chaos for a decade or more. But founders can and do.
Eric is an example of that and I am incredibly grateful to him, and his co-founder Alex, for the level of care and responsibility they brought to SoundCloud (not to mention the original idea and the original product!)
We meet with founders all the time and a few times a year decide to back them with our firm’s capital. One of the things we look for is that commitment, responsibility, and care, the “founders commitment.” It has to be there or it isn’t going to work. Because building a company is really hard. But also incredibly rewarding.
