The CEO’s Real Job: Bringing the Energy

This essay is autogenerated from my x.com threads.

Every few months, I need to remind myself that the most important part of my job isn’t strategy, fundraising, or brainstorming the next big thing.

It’s sharing our story and setting the energy for the organization.

Actually, let me reframe this.

Building a startup is about getting people to sign up for a vision you have. And that vision is YEARS away.

The work that needs to be done today? Frankly, a lot of it sucks.

It’s full of hardship:

• You have a down month.

• A key team member leaves.

• A big customer cancels, or an important sale falls through.

These issues are real, immediate, and distracting. Meanwhile, the vision—the thing that inspired everyone to sign up in the first place—is still five to ten years down the road. That vision is colorful, exciting, and full of potential. But the road to get there? It's bumpy, full of potholes, and, over time, it grinds the whole team down.

Especially if there isn’t a leader actively bringing in energy to lift everyone up.

At risk of sounding like some self-help guru, let me just say: The most important thing a CEO can give their team is energy.

Literally everything gets better:

• Employees are happier.

• Goals are hit faster.

• People work harder—not out of obligation, but because they’re bought into the mission.

A startup is a long, brutal march through uncertainty. Energy is what keeps the team moving forward. So much of this job is just that—giving energy.

And I need to do more of it.