Being the Founder of a business does not automatically mean you have the commercial acumen required to be its CEO. 

A high-performing Founder & CEO has a strong track record of driving growth in a technology-based company and a deep understanding of market fundamentals, including clients, customers, end users, channel partners, and competitors. They understand the opportunities within different market segments and, more importantly, know how to capitalize on them.

A Founder also has a highly customer-centric business philosophy. They take special actions in the interest of the customer and continually identify and develop best practices for working with customers and adding value to their businesses. The customer is not simply one consideration among many, it is paramount. Understanding the customer and the market should strongly influence how the business operates, evolves, and grows.

The Litmus Test: Can the Founder successfully drive change internally when they know customers and/or the market is changing? And when competing interests arise from direct reports, the workforce, the Board of Directors, or others  . . . can they make the customer the #1 priority?

Commercial Acumen is one of 9 critical competencies we believe a Founder & CEO should examine when asking a bigger question: Do you have what it takes to be CEO of your business?

Read more here to explore all nine CEO competencies and see how you measure up against the Founder performance bar.