To bring in a start-up, it depends on the underlying reason – if the entrepreneur is the creative type who creates new ideas – its best to let him continue on as an entrepreneur and keep good relations with him so that we can buy his new start-up or ideas again. At different stages of a company’s life – it requires different leadership styles. We wouldn’t want a creative guy to keep re-creating the company – we would want someone who can build things up to the next level.
No one is irreplaceable – but to replace someone who is willing to work 18 hours/day across functions, it’ll take 2-3 people to replace him in terms of functionality.
