HubSpot co-founder Brian Halligan discusses the managerial bottlenecks founder-CEOs encounter as their headcount grows.
0:00 / 0:18exact quote · 18.9s
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“I think founder CEOs often have this problem that like founder CEOs like to make decisions, like to be involved with the details, like to drive things, like to be in the middle of things. And that's a great strength when you get 10 people, but that great strength you have turns into your greatest weakness when you have a thousand people.”
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