The enduring success of iconic brands like Disney, Apple, Ikea, and Southwest Airlines — where visionary founders are no longer at the helm — can often be traced back to cultures and organizational alignment deeply rooted in unwavering visions. This alignment continues to guide these companies long after the founders have stepped away. The brands that truly stand out across generations are those that evolve amid challenges while steadfastly honoring the principles and purpose their founders instilled. But this ongoing commitment is no accident — it’s a product of founders intentionally navigating the Stages of Development.
In the last part of the Founder Mode Series, we examined how recognizing the trap of Manager Mode enables founders to shift their focus from daily operational demands to the high-impact work of long-term leadership and stewardship. These pivotal moments are opportunities to lay the foundation for something greater: building an iconic brand that will leave a lasting impact. A founder’s ability to engage in the right mode during these times — whether it’s making quick, strategic decisions in Judge Mode or rallying Ideal Stakeholders around the vision in Storyteller Mode — can set the brand’s trajectory on the right path.
Now, we’ll discuss how creating an iconic brand involves key decisions that define its future. Founder Mode is particularly evident during these inflection points, where the founder’s ability to, for example, embrace Visionary Mode for strategic direction or Warrior Mode for overcoming obstacles often determines whether the brand grows or dies. Let’s explore this dynamic in detail, examining how the foundational influence of a founder or a founder-like leader plays a pivotal role.
Founder Phenomenon: Founder Influence in Iconic Brands
In the startup world, building an iconic brand without the influence of a founder is exceptionally rare. Iconic brands are usually the product of a founder’s relentless vision, personality, and drive. Strip away the founder’s influence, and the odds of a brand reaching legendary status drop dramatically. This isn’t a slight against professional managers or capable successors — it’s a reality check on what it actually takes to create a brand that people feel personally connected to.
Most successful brands with staying power are built not on systems alone but on one individual’s unyielding commitment to a unique vision. Here’s why few brands become iconic without a founder’s fingerprints all over them..png?width=2500&height=902&name=Iconic_Brands%20(4).png)
A Founder’s Vision Is Unique and Irreplaceable
The essence of a great brand is a clear, often obsessive vision that sometimes borders on irrational. Founders see things in ways that no one else does. They’re driven not just by market opportunities but by deeply held beliefs about how things should be. Consider Steve Jobs, for instance. He wasn’t just creating devices — he was crafting tools to amplify human potential.
For non-founders, replicating this kind of personal conviction is next to impossible because they’re not operating in Founder Mode. One notable exception is Elon Musk: While not Tesla’s founder, he operates with a founder’s intensity and vision after decades of founding experience. He isn’t just selling cars — he’s on a mission to redefine transportation and energy on a global scale. On the other hand, when Steve Ballmer took over for Bill Gates at Microsoft, the company maintained profitability but lost its innovative edge, falling behind competitors in areas like mobile technology and cloud computing.
While successors and executives may admire an existing company’s vision, they often lack the visceral connection to it that the founder has. As a result, great brands led by successors continue to grow, but on occasion, they lose the unique character that stems from a founder’s uncompromising commitment. As an example, what would Walt Disney think of today's Disney?
Founders Take Risks No One Else Will
Most people don’t want to push the envelope on an already successful brand. Founders, however, are almost irrationally risk-tolerant when it comes to their brand’s purpose. They frequently sacrifice short-term profits, alter the business model, or even alienate certain customers to remain true to their vision. Let’s explore some examples that illustrate this:
- Phil Knight (Nike): As Nike’s cofounder, Knight embodied a founder’s relentless drive to build a brand that captured the spirit of athletic excellence. From the company’s earliest days, Knight invested heavily in marketing and innovative products, even when the payoff wasn’t clear. His commitment to building a brand around grit, performance, and aspiration required a level of risk-taking and brand authenticity that few non-founders would attempt.
- Reed Hastings (Netflix): As Netflix’s cofounder, Hastings took significant risks, including the pivot from DVD rentals to streaming. This bold move, at a time when internet speeds and consumer habits were not yet aligned with streaming, demonstrated a willingness to take risks that were pivotal to Netflix’s iconic status.
- Ingvar Kamprad (Ikea): Kamprad founded Ikea with a vision to provide affordable, well-designed furniture to the masses. His innovative flat-pack furniture concept was a risk that revolutionized the industry and cemented Ikea as a beloved global brand.
- Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines): Kelleher cofounded Southwest with a vision of low-cost, no-frills air travel. His unconventional strategies, like avoiding major airports and offering a single class of service, were bold risks that challenged the airline industry norms and established Southwest as a leader in customer satisfaction.
It's rare for non-founder leaders to have a founder-like influence. The founder’s willingness to take audacious risks rooted in their personal identity is almost impossible to replicate. It’s one reason there are so few cases where someone other than the founder takes a mediocre brand and makes it iconic.
After internal conflicts with John Sculley, whom Steve Jobs had hired as CEO, Jobs left Apple in 1985. Under non-founder leaders Sculley and later Gil Amelio, Apple struggled to innovate and faced financial challenges. Jobs returned in 1997, realigned the company with his unique vision of simplicity and creativity, and launched iconic products like the iMac and iPhone. Jobs’ return wasn’t just about launching new products — it was about him stepping back into Visionary Mode to realign Apple with its original purpose and inspire a new era of creativity and innovation.
The Rare Exception and Why It’s Still Founder-Like
Some brands manage to become great without a day-1 founder at the helm, but these cases are exceptions, underscoring just how rare it is for an outsider to create an iconic brand. When this does happen, it’s typically because a non-founder steps in with founder-level ambition, vision, and an almost irrational drive to see their vision of the brand succeed — in other words, they’re a founder within. Here are a couple more examples:
- Ray Kroc (McDonald’s): Kroc wasn’t a founder, but he embodies this rare exception. His relentless focus on consistency, franchising, and scaling McDonald’s was driven by a vision and personal risk-taking that matched or exceeded that of a typical founder.
- Alfred P. Sloan (General Motors): Sloan joined GM when it was a loosely organized collection of car companies. With a Founder’s Mindset, he restructured the company, introduced brand segmentation, and established a diversified automotive empire. His contributions turned GM into a powerhouse because he brought a founder-like focus to uniting GM’s brands under one coherent vision.
These individuals stepped into an existing business and used a Founder’s Mindset to take transformative risks and shape the business in radically new directions. But it’s important to remember they’re outliers, showing that while it’s possible for a non-founder to create a truly great brand, it requires an unusual combination of vision, risk tolerance, and founder-level commitment that's extraordinarily rare.
Great Brands Are More Than Products —
They’re Personal Movements
A genuinely great brand isn’t just a product or service — it’s an idea, a worldview, or a movement that people want to be part of. Building this kind of connection is challenging enough with a founder. Without one, it’s nearly impossible. People don’t connect emotionally to organizations — they connect to people and ideas that feel authentic. A founder embodies both, bringing a sense of legitimacy and singularity no amount of branding or strategic planning can recreate.
Consider Nike: While Phil Knight wasn’t always in the spotlight, the company’s ethos of gritty athleticism and ambition reflects his values. Nike isn’t selling shoes — it’s selling an identity that resonates with millions. This isn’t something that emerged from committee decisions. It came from the founder’s DNA and set the tone for the brand’s entire culture.
Institutional Strength and Brand Longevity Aren’t the Same as Icon Status
Companies that achieve stability and financial success without a founder are common. But brands that become beloved cultural symbols are rare, and it usually takes a founder to make that happen. Institutional strength, great systems, and operational rigor may sustain growth, but they don’t typically inspire the kind of emotional connection that an icon like Apple or Nike has.
The hard truth? Iconic brands require founder DNA because creating them takes a blend of vision, commitment, and personal risk that rarely exists in conventional leadership. Without that, a brand can be profitable and even respected, but it likely won’t inspire the passion and loyalty that defines a true icon.
Founder-Driven or Founder-Like, Great Brands Need a Single Vision
Iconic brands almost always have a founder or founder-like leader — someone like Howard Schultz — at their core. (I recently heard Schultz described as a re-founder, a term that perfectly captures the essence of his role.) Trying to build a truly great brand without a founder operating in Founder Mode is like trying to create fire without a spark. You can build a successful business, but reaching that point where the brand resonates on a cultural level takes a Founder’s Mindset.
If you want to create a brand that succeeds and transcends, don’t count on systems alone. Look for the person willing to go all in, not just financially but also personally. That’s the real differentiator, and that’s why the odds of building an iconic brand without it are closer to zero than most people want to admit.
Up Next…
Founder Mode can be a powerful force on the journey of building an iconic brand, but as every founder knows, it comes with its share of pitfalls. In the next part of the Founder Mode Series, we’ll focus on strategies specifically for founders. How do you channel the intensity of Founder Mode effectively without letting it strain your team — or yourself?
We’ll explore practical approaches to balancing the drive for innovation and quick decisions with the need for delegation and trust. From recognizing when Founder Mode is an asset to identifying when it becomes a liability, this next article will offer actionable strategies to help you lead with purpose and clarity, even in the most demanding moments.
If you want to stay tuned, I encourage you to sign up to receive email updates with each new part of the Founder Mode Series. I’d also love you to share this with others who are grappling with “Founder Mode,” whether they’re a founder or working with one. I want this series to spark discussions and debates — after all, that’s how we learn and grow. As someone who knows he’s “guilty” of Founder Mode, I’m genuinely excited to explore these ideas with any and everyone who's interested in this topic.
So… I’m adding this link to my Google Docs draft of this series. I’d love to get your feedback and read stories from those who have experienced the good, the bad, or the ugly of working with one or more founders in Founder Mode. Who knows — maybe this will turn into a book that includes lots of great stories about founders around the world.
Read the rest of the Founder Mode Series:
- Part 1: What Is Founder Mode, Really?
- Part 2: Tapping into the Founder's Mindset
- Part 3: 13 Essential Modes for Founders
- Part 4: Understanding the Personalities of Visionary and Legacy Founders
- Part 5: Founders Within: The Founder's Mindset Inside Large Organizations
- Part 6: Mastering Founder Mode: The Core Operating System
- Part 7: 6 Ingredients Founders Use to Build Damn Good, If Not Great, Companies
- Part 8: Understanding the Founder’s Journey Through the Lens of the Stages of Development
