Ever wondered what it's like to work alongside a multi-passionate entrepreneur or founder? This week's episode is your ticket to discovering the unique and challenging environment that could be the perfect career path for you. Join us as we share the six essential things you need to know about working with a founder.

From understanding a founder's intensely clear vision to navigating the blurred lines between business and personal life, we explore the various challenges and rewards of working in the dynamic world of startups and entrepreneurship. We also touch on the importance of trust and loyalty, as well as the need to be one step ahead of your founder. Tune in to find out if a career working with a founder could be your ideal path to personal and professional growth.

Read our blog post about the subject here: https://founderandforcemultiplier.com/6-things-you-need-to-know-about-working-with-a-founder/

Welcome to this week's episode of the Founder in the Force Multiplier podcast, where we explore how founders and leaders work together with their right hand partners to turn ideas into action and build wildly successful businesses. Today, we are going to talk about the six things that you need to know about when working with a founder. So I've worked with a multi-passionate entrepreneur and founder for almost 13 years. I have some, although limited, experience working for leaders in more traditional settings. I worked with a diligent and determined nonprofit executive, and I've also worked with a leader in the bureaucratic environment of secondary education. So I used it to say I knew those weren't the environments for me long term, but I didn't yet know what I was looking for when I was 25 years old, that is, until I started working with a founder That's Adam. It opened me up to a whole new way of working, challenging my thinking and skills on a daily basis, helped me grow as a leader and gave me the hands-on knowledge of how to build, run and grow organizations. Let me give you a hint It's all about people, but working for a founder isn't all fun and games. It can include extremely long days and years. Organized chaos, but only if you organize it Occasional whiplash due to fast growth, differences of opinions, egos, growing pains, capital constraints and unclear goal or vision and a lack of resources. Like all of that, i wouldn't trade it for a more traditional environment or leader any day. I love working with a multi-passion entrepreneur and founder Definitely the right environment for me, and maybe it's the right one for you too. However, it is not for everyone. Personally, i think the business knowledge and personal and professional growth alone far outweigh any of the challenges along the way, but that's a decision that you have to make for yourself. Here's a little disclaimer. I know that not all founders operate the same way. However, i believe that the items below are pretty universal for founders. So here are six things that you need to know about working with a founder to see if it's the right opportunity for you.

Number one they have an intensely clear vision that often no one else can see yet. They know where they are going, even if they haven't yet clearly communicated yet or still have no idea how to get there. They just know that they will. They're extremely confident in the fact that they will get there. To them, the end result is crystal clear. But how is a bit more nebulous And they are totally fine with that. While that may be frustrating for force multipliers, that's actually where we get to shine. It's our job to take that hazy vision and help create action plans, teams and get all the things into place that bring that idea to life. And that's the fun and exciting part, at least for me too.

They don't have all the answers. If you're expecting your founder to have all of the answers know how to set up departments, understand supply chain logistics, know how to fire someone or know how to get an investor to say yes every time think again. In many ways, your founder will be incredibly clear and decisive, and in other ways, you'll be in the trenches figuring it out together. That's what's so fun and challenging about a startup and being a force multiplier to a founder. Some people think it's fun anyway. For others it's their version of hell. So choose wisely.

Number three the business comes first. No matter how great of a relationship you have with your founder, no matter how empathetic and emotionally intelligent they are with their team members, the business is going to come first, and I suggest you adopt that attitude as well. It actually levels the playing field in a lot of ways If you have discussed and agreed to these rules of engagement upfront. If you and your founder are both committed to what is best for the business, then conversations become less emotional. You are more readily able to put ideas on the line and ultimately make decisions that are best for the business, not just for one individual. You, the employee, just have to be okay with that and adopt that founder leader mindset as well alongside your leader Number four.

The lines between business and personal can be blurry. Founders live, eat, sleep, drink, think and dream about their businesses. They take their work home and they take their personal lives to work. They may exercise in their office between calls and take calls between dinner and baths time at home. There is no clocking in or clocking out in the founder's world. The right hand partner needs to understand and accept this world of work life integration. That also means you, the force multiplier, may find yourself helping your founder move into their new home plan a 10 year anniversary trip for their partner, meet with a realtor to negotiate lease terms on office space or help prepare a pitch deck for an investor meeting. It's all in the day's work for a founder. It's all in the day's work for a force multiplier. To a founder.

Number five trust and loyalty are earned. Trust and loyalty are a two-way straight and it's built brick by brick over time. Every time you do what you say you're going to do and, even more importantly, go above and beyond, your founder will have more trust in you, and vice versa. When your founder says something and then follows through, trust is built When you have each other's back in tough situations. When you take the fall for a mistake your founder made, or when your founder shoulders the full responsibility of missed communication, even more trust and loyalty are built. But it's not going to just be given out. It has to be earned, and there's nothing wrong with that. You've got to earn it. If you are looking for some ways to fast track building trust, you can check out the link in the show notes.

Six you have to be able to run alongside and, better yet, to be one step ahead of your founder. Founders are not going to slow down to make sure you can keep up. They are running down the street while they are putting on their shoes. They aren't going to ask you to run with them. You either show up with your sneakers on or you will be left behind If you need to learn a new software or update yourself on the latest legislation affecting your industry. You'll have to figure that out while you're managing three new projects and rescheduling your founder's entire month.

Better yet, you need to be able to stay one step ahead, anticipating every move and making sure that they have what they need every step of the way. Is that a tall order? Yes, absolutely, but that's what working for a founder requires. I would love to hear from any of the founders who are listening to this Either force multipliers, what other things do you wish that an executive assistant, a chief of staff, an executive business partner, whoever your right hand team member is, knew about working with you? And you know to those force multipliers, what have you learned about working with founders?