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I was talking to a Venture Capitalist early on about our company. Out of the blue the VC looked at me and said, “Well you’re the CEO, so you get to deal with investors like me.
“And that’s why you get more stock than the others.”
The VC was playing to the myth that your biggest pain and problems as CEO are dealing with investors. In one sense the VC wasn’t wrong, but I think he wasn’t right either.
Sure, dealing with investors can be a real painful experience. I should know because I certainly felt that pain all too well.
However, I never felt that dealing with investors was something I didn’t want to do. In fact, my thought process was pretty simple.
I want my destiny in my own hands, not anyone else’s. So I am happy to meet with investors and deal with investors and fight with investors.
Why would I want to self-inflict the pain of dealing with investors on myself?
The easy answer is because I am in control of my destiny and the company’s destiny. I wouldn’t want anyone else but me handling that.
Even though I had my share of difficulties dealing with our investors, I never felt it was something I didn’t want to do…
