• Education
    • Higher Education
    • Scholarships & Grants
    • Online Learning
    • School Reforms
    • Research & Innovation
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Fashion & Beauty
    • Home & Living
    • Relationships & Family
  • Technology & Startups
    • Software & Apps
    • Startup Success Stories
    • Startups & Innovations
    • Tech Regulations
    • Venture Capital
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cybersecurity
    • Emerging Technologies
    • Gadgets & Devices
    • Industry Analysis
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy
Today Headline
  • Home
  • World News
    • Us & Canada
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Middle East
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Political Parties
    • Government Policies
    • International Relations
    • Legislative News
  • Business & Finance
    • Market Trends
    • Stock Market
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Corporate News
    • Economic Policies
  • Science & Environment
    • Space Exploration
    • Climate Change
    • Wildlife & Conservation
    • Environmental Policies
    • Medical Research
  • Health
    • Public Health
    • Mental Health
    • Medical Breakthroughs
    • Fitness & Nutrition
    • Pandemic Updates
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Tennis
    • Olympics
    • Motorsport
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV & Streaming
    • Celebrity News
    • Awards & Festivals
  • Crime & Justice
    • Court Cases
    • Cybercrime
    • Policing
    • Criminal Investigations
    • Legal Reforms
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World News
    • Us & Canada
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Middle East
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Political Parties
    • Government Policies
    • International Relations
    • Legislative News
  • Business & Finance
    • Market Trends
    • Stock Market
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Corporate News
    • Economic Policies
  • Science & Environment
    • Space Exploration
    • Climate Change
    • Wildlife & Conservation
    • Environmental Policies
    • Medical Research
  • Health
    • Public Health
    • Mental Health
    • Medical Breakthroughs
    • Fitness & Nutrition
    • Pandemic Updates
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Tennis
    • Olympics
    • Motorsport
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV & Streaming
    • Celebrity News
    • Awards & Festivals
  • Crime & Justice
    • Court Cases
    • Cybercrime
    • Policing
    • Criminal Investigations
    • Legal Reforms
No Result
View All Result
Today Headline
No Result
View All Result
Home Technology & Startups

An angel investor in 350 startups, including Airtable and Rippling, says founders shouldn’t copy Silicon Valley playbooks

August 7, 2025
in Technology & Startups
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
0
4
SHARES
8
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


Immad Akhund
Immad Akhund, an angel investor since 2016, says blindly copying Silicon Valley playbooks like “founder mode” never works.Vaughn Ridley/Web Summit via Sportsfile via Getty Images
  • Startups are told to follow Silicon Valley playbooks like “founder mode.”

  • But an angel investor in 350 startups, including Airtable and Rippling, said “that never works.”

  • The key is to understand the framework and context and “blend it” into your own company, Immad Akhund said.

Startups are told to run like Airbnb, go full “founder mode,” and follow OKRs — Objective and Key Results. But Immad Akhund, an angel investor since 2016, said copying Silicon Valley playbooks can backfire.

It’s “very easy” to try to copy and paste a Brian Chesky axiom to your situation, Akhund said on an episode of the “In Depth” podcast published Wednesday. “That never works,” he added.

“The lessons work in their particular way for that particular situation, and you have to adapt them to your situation,” he said.

Akhund said the key is to understand the framework and context that made it successful and then “try to blend it” into your own company.

For instance, Akhund, who is the founder and CEO of banking startup Mercury, said people told him to adopt an OKR framework once the company reached a “certain size.”

“When we were small, I was like, ‘OK, this is just silly,'” he said. “We don’t need a structure for objectives, like there are just five people in the room. Let’s just do this.”

He also cautioned against letting metrics dictate every decision.

“Doing like, an extra bit that creates like a magical experience for customers, that’s very hard to measure a metric against,” he said.

It’s dangerous to have everything be driven by metrics, he added.

Akhund has backed more than 350 startups at their earliest stages, including Rappi, Airtable, Rippling, Decagon, and Etched.

Akhund angel invests in “things that will seem inevitable 10 years from now and can be $10 billion companies,” he told Business Insider in a May story about the most successful seed-stage investors.

Mercury, the fintech startup he founded, announced in March that it had raised a $300 million Series C round led by Sequoia at a $3.5 billion valuation.

Akhund did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Tech leaders have debated about the right way to run their companies.

Airbnb’s Chesky said on an episode of The Verge’s “Decoder” podcast published last month that embracing “founder mode,” a term that he helped popularize, is key to acting like a nimble startup.

“In the age of AI, my argument is you need to be founder oriented/founder mode, because you’re going to need to be able to move like a startup to be able to adapt,” he said. “I think these big, professionally managed companies aren’t organized to be able to do that, so they don’t bode well for this new world.”

Chesky talked about founder mode on the same podcast last year, saying people misunderstand the term. It’s not about “swagger,” he said, but instead about being focused on the details. The whole ethos is “that great leadership is presence, not absence,” Chesky said last year.

But others see the risk in sticking to a single operating mode.

Hussein Kanji, a partner at VB firm Hoxton Ventures, said in a September story by Business Insider that it’s easy to end up down the wrong track “if you live just in one mode.”

“People love making things black and white when the world runs in a lot of different shades of truth,” he said. “People have lost their ability to engage with seemingly contradictory ideas at the same time.”

Some of the most successful tech companies right now are also overseen by leaders who weren’t their founders. Satya Nadella at Microsoft is one such leader, as is Dara Khosrowshahi at Uber.

Axel Springer, Insider Inc.’s parent company, is an investor in Airbnb.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Tags: angel investorbrian cheskyBusiness InsiderImmad AkhundSilicon Valley
Previous Post

Oman supports UN effort for treaty on plastic pollution control

Next Post

China Doubles Down on Zero-Tariff Access for Ghana | africa.com

Related Posts

Amazon Web Services to provide US government agencies with up to $1 billion in discounts

August 7, 2025
6

Trump calls for Intel CEO to ‘resign immediately’

August 7, 2025
6
Next Post
1

China Doubles Down on Zero-Tariff Access for Ghana | africa.com

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Family calls for change after B.C. nurse dies by suicide after attacks on the job

Family calls for change after B.C. nurse dies by suicide after attacks on the job

April 2, 2025
Pioneering 3D printing project shares successes

Product reduces TPH levels to non-hazardous status

November 27, 2024

Police ID man who died after Corso Italia fight

December 23, 2024

Hospital Mergers Fail to Deliver Better Care or Lower Costs, Study Finds todayheadline

December 31, 2024
Harris tells supporters 'never give up' and urges peaceful transfer of power

Harris tells supporters ‘never give up’ and urges peaceful transfer of power

0
Des Moines Man Accused Of Shooting Ex-Girlfriend's Mother

Des Moines Man Accused Of Shooting Ex-Girlfriend’s Mother

0

Trump ‘looks forward’ to White House meeting with Biden

0
Catholic voters were critical to Donald Trump’s blowout victory: ‘Harris snubbed us’

Catholic voters were critical to Donald Trump’s blowout victory: ‘Harris snubbed us’

0
stress

How past trauma drives the brain’s response to new stress

August 7, 2025
Autumn Bardisa was arrested at her home and is being held on $70,00 bond.

Florida woman arrested after allegedly posing as nurse and treating more than 4,000 patients with stolen license

August 7, 2025
Details emerge after mysterious Hiroshima-themed protest doll found at Disneyland’s Small World ride

Details emerge after mysterious Hiroshima-themed protest doll found at Disneyland’s Small World ride

August 7, 2025
Thailand, Cambodia to deploy ceasefire monitors despite deadlock over captured soldiers

Thailand, Cambodia to deploy ceasefire monitors despite deadlock over captured soldiers

August 7, 2025

Recent News

stress

How past trauma drives the brain’s response to new stress

August 7, 2025
3
Autumn Bardisa was arrested at her home and is being held on $70,00 bond.

Florida woman arrested after allegedly posing as nurse and treating more than 4,000 patients with stolen license

August 7, 2025
5
Details emerge after mysterious Hiroshima-themed protest doll found at Disneyland’s Small World ride

Details emerge after mysterious Hiroshima-themed protest doll found at Disneyland’s Small World ride

August 7, 2025
3
Thailand, Cambodia to deploy ceasefire monitors despite deadlock over captured soldiers

Thailand, Cambodia to deploy ceasefire monitors despite deadlock over captured soldiers

August 7, 2025
4

TodayHeadline is a dynamic news website dedicated to delivering up-to-date and comprehensive news coverage from around the globe.

Follow Us

Browse by Category

  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Basketball
  • Business & Finance
  • Climate Change
  • Crime & Justice
  • Cybersecurity
  • Economic Policies
  • Elections
  • Entertainment
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Environmental Policies
  • Europe
  • Football
  • Gadgets & Devices
  • Health
  • Medical Research
  • Mental Health
  • Middle East
  • Motorsport
  • Olympics
  • Politics
  • Public Health
  • Relationships & Family
  • Science & Environment
  • Software & Apps
  • Space Exploration
  • Sports
  • Stock Market
  • Technology & Startups
  • Tennis
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Us & Canada
  • Wildlife & Conservation
  • World News

Recent News

stress

How past trauma drives the brain’s response to new stress

August 7, 2025
Autumn Bardisa was arrested at her home and is being held on $70,00 bond.

Florida woman arrested after allegedly posing as nurse and treating more than 4,000 patients with stolen license

August 7, 2025
  • Education
  • Lifestyle
  • Technology & Startups
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy

© 2024 Todayheadline.co

Welcome Back!

OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Business & Finance
  • Corporate News
  • Economic Policies
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Market Trends
  • Crime & Justice
  • Court Cases
  • Criminal Investigations
  • Cybercrime
  • Legal Reforms
  • Policing
  • Education
  • Higher Education
  • Online Learning
  • Entertainment
  • Awards & Festivals
  • Celebrity News
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Health
  • Fitness & Nutrition
  • Medical Breakthroughs
  • Mental Health
  • Pandemic Updates
  • Lifestyle
  • Fashion & Beauty
  • Food & Drink
  • Home & Living
  • Politics
  • Elections
  • Government Policies
  • International Relations
  • Legislative News
  • Political Parties
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Middle East
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Cybersecurity
  • Emerging Technologies
  • Gadgets & Devices
  • Industry Analysis
  • Basketball
  • Football
  • Motorsport
  • Olympics
  • Climate Change
  • Environmental Policies
  • Medical Research
  • Science & Environment
  • Space Exploration
  • Wildlife & Conservation
  • Sports
  • Tennis
  • Technology & Startups
  • Software & Apps
  • Startup Success Stories
  • Startups & Innovations
  • Tech Regulations
  • Venture Capital
  • Uncategorized
  • World News
  • Us & Canada
  • Public Health
  • Relationships & Family
  • Travel
  • Research & Innovation
  • Scholarships & Grants
  • School Reforms
  • Stock Market
  • TV & Streaming
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy
  • About us
  • Contact

© 2024 Todayheadline.co