‘Founder mode’ Memes Keep Coming

Recent trends on X reveal an ongoing surge in ‘Founder mode’ memes, highlighting their persistent popularity

If you are a frequent visitor to X or Threads, where snarky parodies are frequently posted, you have likely encountered posts that mention “founder mode” in the past few days, such as this:

https://www.threads.net/@carnage4life/post/C_eaQAxyIcV

Alternately, maybe this:

You may have even encountered this parody of “goblin mode.”

The discussion is related to a recent blog post by Paul Graham, the founder of Y Combinator and a provider of startup wisdom, in which he discussed how founders such as Brian Chesky of Airbnb frequently disregard conventional wisdom when it comes to operating a company at scale.

Graham asserts that the conventional wisdom of “hire great people and let them do their thing” frequently transforms into “hire professional fakers and let them drive the company into the ground.”

He cannot provide a precise description of the characteristics of founder mode, as each founder implements it uniquely. However, he aspires to the day when it will be as broadly taught as manager mode. Meanwhile, the hot takes on his hot take persist.