Don't be a Helicopter Founder

Hey y’all — we’re ultimately judged on whether our companies succeed. But how we get there matters too.

We all want to keep our teams motivated, culture intact, and our own sanity too.

After seeing and working with hundreds of founders, I’ve seen one recurring behavior that consistently causes more harm than good even when the founder has great intentions.

I call it being a helicopter founder…

Don’t Be A Helicopter Founder

What’s A Helicopter Founder?

As your company grows, it becomes impossible to be in every room. That’s fine — healthy, even. But some founders drift too far, too soon.

They float at 10,000 feet, focused on strategy, fundraising, vision. They’re mostly hands-off... until they suddenly drop into a project last minute and make sweeping changes.

These changes might be directionally right. The problem is the order of operations.

The team has already poured hours into execution — with little input or engagement from the founder — only to be overruled at the finish line. Not because the team went rogue, but because they did try to involve the founder… and the founder didn’t show up early enough.

Helicopter Founders:

• Move quickly.

• Act decisively.

• Operate with poor situational context and worse timing.

It’s not leadership. It’s disruption.

And instead of unblocking the team, they leave it demoralized and second-guessing what to do next.

Don’t get me wrong — spending time on deep thinking and strategy is important, and some of those big picture tasks are critical for the company’s future, but founders also need to deal with the company’s “now.”

And there’s one key difference between being in the details and being a helicopter founder:

Good founders know that their job often involves jumping from the biggest problem to the next biggest problem. They’re chief fire fighter. Helicopter founders, on the other hand, jump into things at their discretion.

Rather than helping their team, they’re throwing it in disarray.

Why Are Helicopter Founders Bad?

It’s not just that it wastes time. It breaks trust.

There is no better way to erode trust and break the spirit of a team than by being a helicopter founder.

Here’s what happens:

• Teams stop moving until they get explicit founder signoff.

• Momentum stalls while everyone waits for the next parachute drop.

• Eventually, people stop feeling ownership — they’re just executing someone else’s whims.

• Great hires leave. Prospective hires notice and steer clear.

And, worst of all:

This behavior cascades.

If the founder sets the tone by hovering at 10,000 feet, guess what the eventual VPs and managers will do? They see what gets rewarded and optimize for it.

The company becomes top-heavy as it grows.

Why Do Founders Become Helicopter Founders?

Most helicopter founders don’t mean to be that way. But the behavior is easy to slip into — especially as the business gets more complex.

Here’s why it happens (in rough order of frequency):

• They’re stretched too thin. Poor time management leads to reactive behavior.

• They have unclear priorities. They over-invest in strategy work because they don’t have a good one yet.

• They don’t fully trust their team. Either because they’ve made bad hires, or they haven’t learned how to delegate well.

• They’re compensating. They feel detached and overcorrect by jumping in late.

• They crave control. Rare — but real. Some founders can’t let go.

Regardless of the reason, the result is the same: chaos.

What Should Founders Do Instead?

Here’s how to lead without parachuting in:

Hire for trust, not convenience.

If you wouldn’t trust someone to make autonomous decisions, don’t hire them — no matter how fast you need to move. You should be able to trust everyone you hire on Day 1.

Engage early, not loudly.

Be in the meetings. Ask good questions. Share high-context feedback before the team’s deep in the work. Be engaged along the way, too.

Build visibility loops.

Whether it’s meetings or async updates, build systems so your feedback is proactive, not reactive.

Document your principles.

If your team can’t predict how you’d think about a decision, you haven’t given them a clear enough framework. Write it down. Share it broadly.

Hold yourself accountable.

Most likely nobody else will. Schedule time to just ask yourself if you’re in the details or parachuting in.

There’s a big difference between jumping into a fire… and setting one by accident.

So be present. Be early. Be clear.

Your team will thank you — and your company will move faster because of it.

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