hekenbergThere's a popular myth about Thomas Edison inventing the light bulb alone through pure individual genius. Many SaaS founders treat "founder obsession" as essential - believing success requires one visionary working nonstop while ignoring sleep, teams, and basic needs. (1/4)
This myth creates serious problems in today's AI startups. Founders develop toxic hero complexes. They keep control of all decisions, treat engineers as just "workers," and burn out from trying to achieve breakthroughs alone. Products often fail when one person's narrow focus misses market realities. Investors make it worse by praising extreme work hours while startups lose talent. Just last month, a founder bragged about coding through appendicitis. His CTO quit the next day. (2/4)
The truth is different. Edison didn't work alone. He ran an invention factory at Menlo Park with 30 full-time engineers, chemists, and mechanics. His team recorded all 6,000 failed filament experiments in shared lab notebooks. Edison's real skill was creating systems for hard work, not doing it all himself. Meanwhile, your typical "super-founder" struggles to delegate basic tasks because they're too busy crafting their grand vision (3/4)
. History shows obsession without teamwork is just poor management.
Consider this next time you admire a founder working late nights. Are they like Edison - or just a bad manager who can't trust their team? Why do we celebrate behaviors Edison improved back in 1879?
#FounderMyths #TeamworkWins #RetailFounders #BusinessTruths #LeadershipMatters (4/4)
Erwin Rossen 🔸@hekenberg I would say that any founder that structurally works more than 50 hours a week is weak. I would never invest in them. If they can't even take care of themselves in the long run, how can I trust them with a company?