SaaStr · 2020-07-30 · 2134d

CEO Selection Checklist: How to Choose the Right Founder for the CEO Role

Jason Lemkin presents a five-criterion checklist for determining which founder should serve as CEO in early-stage startups. The framework emphasizes fundraising capability, external evangelism, customer engagement, long-term commitment, and recruiting ability as key CEO qualifications, arguing that objective evaluation against these criteria should determine the final decision rather than ego or past experience.

2 metrics· Cited 0× in the knowledge base ·Open source ↗

Metrics in this report

CEO Job Allocation to Recruiting

20%+%

minimum

early-stage startup CEO responsibilities

Recommended CEO Tenure

7-10years

minimum commitment

startup founder CEO commitment horizon