🕺🏻 Being CEO

There’s no job quite like being the CEO of an early-stage startup. Thirteen years in, I still haven’t found a role that brings more uncertainty, discomfort, and, ultimately, growth.

In most professions, there’s a ladder. You start as a junior; someone guides you, and you make mistakes with guardrails. As a startup CEO, you dive in headfirst. No training wheels, no warm-up, no one above you to tell you if you’re doing it right. You’re not stepping into a well-oiled machine. You are the machine. Often, your co-founders are continuing in roles they’ve mastered: your CTO has likely built products and led teams; your CRO knows how to sell. You, meanwhile, are figuring it out in real-time, juggling every unsolved problem that doesn’t fit anywhere else.

And yet, this role taught me more than any job ever could.

1. Intuition becomes your operating system.

When you’re constantly under pressure—too many tasks, too little time, too many unknowns—your brain starts connecting patterns. You start sensing who’s the right hire. You notice the small warning signs that, left unaddressed, grow into big problems. You don’t always know why you feel something is off, but you learn to trust that feeling.

Intuition isn’t magic. It’s your subconscious processing data you didn’t even realize you absorbed. The key is building a feedback loop: look back on each gut decision and see if you were right. Over time, your inner signal sharpens.

Roger Federer once said, “You don't have to be amazing… You win 51 percent of the points, and you’re going to be one of the greatest."  The same goes for startup leadership. You don’t need to always be right. You just need to be right slightly more than wrong for a long time.

2. Ruthless prioritization becomes survival.

Every day gives you 20 problems. You’ll only have time for one. Some of the 19 you ignore will come back to bite you. But if you try to do it all, you’ll burn out and still fail.

In a world of endless information and noise, perfectionism is a liability. You learn to move the needle on what matters most and let go of what you can’t control.

3. You become a student of people.

Every week for 13 years, I’ve met new people. Investors, customers, candidates, advisors, skeptics, champions. Many are rushed, distracted, and sometimes even rude. But under every reaction is a reason and a motivation. You learn to see beneath the surface: not just what people say, but why they say it. You start noticing what matters to them and how to meet them where they are.

4. Communication becomes your superpower.

Whether it’s an internal memo, a pitch on stage, an investor update, or a social post, you’re constantly translating your thoughts to different audiences. The challenge isn’t just being clear but being persuasive. You can’t fake this skill. You practice it every single day.

I once heard from a fellow founder: “Being a CEO is like being a parent. You’ll be less happy but more fulfilled.”

Until next Sunday,
George Levin
^{LinkedIn | Consulting}