# Founder runs the company unapologetically their way versus compromise toward team preferences as a midpoint.

**Practitioner:** Brian Chesky
**Source:** Lenny's Podcast — Brian Chesky episode
**Timestamp:** 31:16
**Move:** 8 of 8

## The tension

Founder runs the company unapologetically their way versus compromise toward team preferences as a midpoint.

## Where they landed

Extreme no-apology — run the company your way.

## What they accepted to lose

Employees who wanted the midpoint-compromise version of the company leave. Founder accepts being unpopular.

## Verbatim

> way too many founders apologize for how they want to run the company. They basically find some midpoint between how they want to run a company and how the people they lead want to run the company.

— Brian Chesky, Lenny's Podcast, 31:16

## Load-bearing phrase

*way too many founders apologize*

## What it pushes back against

The founder instinct to find a midpoint between own preferences and the team's.

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**Source attribution:** This call is drawn from Lenny Rachitsky's public podcast archive at [LennysData.com](https://lennysdata.com), released April 2026 with an explicit invitation to builders.

**Verify on votu.app:** [https://votu.app/move/chesky-8](https://votu.app/move/chesky-8)

**License:** Verbatim quotes are © the original speaker; attribution and timestamp guaranteed accurate to the source transcript.