Avin Rabheru is the founder and CEO of Housekeep, the UK’s largest marketplace of cleaners and tradespeople. Before starting Housekeep over a decade ago, he was a venture capitalist at Smedvig Ventures for 6 years. He’s also a prolific angel investor with over 50 startups in his portfolio. He serves on several boards.
So, Avin looks at CEO succession from three perspectives: as a VC, an angel investor, and a founder.
This makes him uncharacteristically blunt when talking about VCs:
Most investors say that [they] back exceptional teams, and I used to say this too, but I'm a bit sceptical about this on reflection. Most of the time, management teams get replaced.
You have no idea what that leadership team or that leader or that CEO or that founder has sacrificed, and you are stabbing them in the back. <…> I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, but you are still fundamentally, to some extent, betraying their trust.
What would make Avin consider stepping down as a CEO? Would he ever do it at Housekeep? Has he ever considered hiring a professional CEO?
Listen to the episode to find out.
Timestamps
(Clickable on YouTube)
00:00 Introduction
03:31 Most Founders Think They're Great
07:30 Two out of Three Times Founders Are Pushed Out
09:47 Inflection Points in Business Growth
19:04 Could Someone Run Housekeep Better?
21:51 Balancing Leadership and Personal Life
25:16 Roles of Founder and CEO at Housekeep
29:48 What Founders Bring To The Table
32:51 Why Most Founding Teams Get Replaced
36:08 Identifying Strong Founders
42:37 "I Encourage All Founders To Just Keep Going"
50:42 A Fundamental Betrayal
53:16 Final Reflections
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