Member-only story
My wife was working at a start-up about 10 years ago, and the company was doing really, really well. Revenue and customers were growing exponentially.
The CEO was a brilliant and charismatic leader. The management team was strong. It looked like everyone involved was going to win.
Then, for some inexplicable reason, the Board fired the CEO. Blossom and I had dinner with the CEO the night after he was fired.
The CEO was in shock and disbelief. He wasn’t given a reason why he was fired. The CEO told us, “The Board just said we want to go in a different direction.”
The pain and hurt was written all over his face. 24 hours earlier, he was leading a hot start-up as CEO, and suddenly he was out in the street.
Blossom and I tried our best to console him. Maybe just having someone to talk to helps take the pain away.
Dinner ended, and we said our goodbyes. Blossom asked me what I thought happened on the drive home.
I told Blossom, “The Board must have a good reason for firing the CEO, and the Board must have a plan.”
Startups are very fragile.
I was wrong. The Board didn’t have a plan.
