Alicia Navarro, founder and ex-CEO of Skimlinks, takes us through her journey from founding Skimlinks and building it into a leading content monetisation platform to making the tough decision to step down as CEO after 11 years and promote one of her senior leaders to the CEO position. Two years later, the new CEO successfully exited the company. Alicia and I discuss the difference between founder-CEO and scale-up CEO in the context of preparing to sell a VC-backed business.

00:00 Introduction

01:38 Founding Skimlinks

05:53 Deciding to Step Down as CEO

10:22 The Transition Process and Board Dynamics

15:02 Physical and Emotional Toll of Leadership

17:12 0-to-1 Founders and 1-to-N Founders

22:08 Post-CEO Work as President

23:45 Power Handover

29:02 Team Reactions and Culture Shift

30:48 Post-Transition Success

33:20 Reflecting on Leadership and Lessons Learned

37:35 Board's Role in the Transition

39:05 Life After the Exit

41:22 Advice for Founders and Future CEOs

49:46 The Importance of Succession Planning

51:32 Final Reflections

Learn more about Evgeny's work as a CEO coach: https://www.evgeny.coach

Startup CEO Succession: a Founder's Guide to Leadership Transition is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CW1HLZTR 

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit substack.evgeny.coach