Most founders don't realise the biggest barrier to scaling isn't capital or talent — it's learning when to let go.

Carolyn Dawson built a 10,000-person founder community by understanding this one truth:

The best leaders know exactly when to stop being indispensable.In this interview you’ll discover what is needed to choose between entering the US vs Europe startup sector.

🧠 What You'll Learn:

▪️ Why European founders' "humanity" in hiring decisions might actually be holding back the ecosystem

▪️ How celebrating failure accelerated growth at Supercell (and why most founders get this backwards)

▪️ The curation secrets behind building the UK's most exclusive founder community

▪️ Why "founder mode" becomes dangerous after Series B and when to transition

▪️ The internal vs external balance that separates unicorn founders from the rest

📖 Chapters

00:00 - UK vs US: The Narrative Problem

06:27 - When Founders Should Actually Exit Their Companies

11:43 - Building a People-Driven Business at Scale

22:46 - The Stories Behind Closed Funding Rounds

24:15 - What Separates the Top 1% of Founders

31:03 - The Quality vs Speed Trade-off in Company Building

33:22 - Building Loyalty: The Team That Follows You Everywhere

39:13 - From Control Freak to Strategic Leader

42:05 - The External vs Internal Balance Every Founder Must Master

45:21 - What Information to Share vs Keep Private

47:37 - European vs US Firing Culture: The Speed vs Humanity Debate

57:28 - Going Global: Boots on Ground vs Remote

59:09 - The Inner Voice That Builds Resilience

62:06 - Taking Yourself Too Seriously: The Success Trap

🍿 WATCH NEXT

If you liked this conversation, you'll love this one too:

Hard Startups Truths; Funding, Team Design, Skills | James Routledge

https://youtu.be/XcBwsq-KzmI?si=-WhZcPjyXXLWZYMq

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