The Blade

Dr. Evil, the menacing, quirky character in the 1997 spoof “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” literally builds an empire in his sleep. The scene plays out when Dr. Evil introduces his associate, “Number 2” (the man with the eyepatch), who runs Virtucon, the legitimate face of his evil empire. Using miniature models on a map of the U.S. that light up, Number 2 shows Dr. Evil the enormous, successful businesses he has built while Dr. Evil was asleep for 30 years. Could you do the same with your own startup? Could you hire a Number 2 and just sleep?

Former automotive executive Lee Iacocca’s famous advice was, “I hire people brighter than me, and then I get out of their way.” This is what Dr. Evil has done. The leader (who isn’t a character in a movie) who has been closest to adhering to Lee’s advice is Warren Buffett. (Though in reality, I doubt Warren’s hires are brighter than he is.) Buffett does this all the time – he buys 100 percent of great companies with great leaders and “gets out of their way.” But recall: Buffett has had to step in and fix a few of his acquisitions, including Solomon Brothers.

How does this apply to founders of startups?

In one way, Lee Iacocca’s advice is helpful instruction because you really should try to hire people smarter than you are, especially within a particular practice area where you are weak (e.g., sales, marketing, product design). And you really should give them lots of freedom to implement their ideas. They can’t do that if you’re always butting in.

But in another sense, the Iacocca’s advice is overrated and misleading because it’s not applicable or practical within most startup situations. Even the smartest people can’t read your mind and understand your vision as the founder. You must communicate and collaborate with the people you hire – even those with a higher IQ than yours. Smart people can’t be good at everything, so they need you to tell them how to alter their course based on information that only you have. Of course, that process of collaboration needs to be done because there is a good, mutually respectful relationship between you and that smart person. None of this implies your job is to “get out of the way.”

Let me provide you with a quick example that occurred today with my own startup, Vertical IQ. The contract with one of our biggest customers expires soon so we’re negotiating a new one. We inadvertently signed a new master agreement in June that didn’t contain all the terms and conditions we’d really prefer to have. So my attorney, who is clearly smarter than me with regards to legal issues, is advising us to essentially pick a fight with our customer over it to get a better contract. As the founder, I don’t want to do that because based on all the client relationship information our attorney doesn’t have access to, I disagree. So I can’t just get out of his way; it’s my job to interfere.

And let’s face it: Getting out of the way isn’t as fun as being involved.

Part of the excitement of starting a startup is seeking hockey stick revenue growth by figuring out the details. You do this by working with people. Simply said: If you totally get out of their way, then you have no job as the founder. You should fire yourself and sleep for 30 years like Dr. Evil did.