Great Leaders Don't Manage, They Conduct
What "Founder Mode" means to us and why we named our company "Maestro"
Recently, there's been a lot of buzz about Founder Mode—the idea that founders should stay deeply connected to every aspect of their company, cutting through the noise to focus on what truly matters. This concept takes me back to the story of how we named our company and why “Maestro” encapsulates everything we believe in as founders.
Not too long ago, Will and I were working on a product called Flowdex. Our vision was simple but ambitious: to transform the way organizations manage knowledge through an AI-powered notes system. We launched it and gained some enthusiastic users, but something was off. People were using Flowdex in "single-player mode"—more like Apple Notes than the collaborative workspace we had envisioned, akin to Notion.
We hit a wall. We knew in our hearts that we needed to build for organizations, but we couldn't bridge the gap from individual use to team-wide adoption. It felt like we were missing a crucial piece.
So, we pivoted. Instead of creating a new canvas for teams to build knowledge through shared notes, we decided to meet organizations where they already were. Our new mission became unlocking the value buried within the flood of data from tools like Slack, Notion, Zoom, and Jira. We set out to harness AI to help companies make sense of it all. This was the seed that would grow into Maestro.
Around this time, we also started thinking deeply about why some companies seem to scale effortlessly while others get bogged down in complexity. We noticed that exceptional organizations shared something in common: visionary leaders who stayed intimately connected with every facet of their company. These leaders didn't just delegate and step back; they cut through the noise, focused on what truly mattered, and weren't afraid to dive into the trenches to make transformative contributions.
When we shared this insight with our friends
, , and Neel Baronia, at Betaworks, Neel brought up a scene from the Steve Jobs biopic.In it, an exasperated Wozniak (played brilliantly by Seth Rogan) confronts Jobs:
“What do you even do? You can't write code. You're not an engineer. You're not a designer. You can't put a hammer to a nail... What do you do?”
Michael Fassbender's Jobs replies calmly, “I play the orchestra. And you're a good musician. You're the best in your row.”
Watch the clip here:
That line hit me like a ton of bricks. In that instant, everything we’ve been trying to do became crystal clear. Orchestras need a conductor. Great companies need a Maestro. We didn't have a name for it then, but this scene perfectly captured the essence of Paul Graham’s Founder Mode.
Steve Jobs' Founder Mode at Apple wasn't about stepping back and managing from a distance. It was about conducting the entire orchestra, orchestrating every part of the company with his unique vision and deep involvement. At that moment, we realized that's what we wanted to build—a way for every company to have its own Maestro.
Maestro became our mission: to enable founders and leaders to operate in Founder Mode—to stay connected to every layer of their organization without getting bogged down by the minutiae. Like conducting, Founder Mode is about holding the grand vision while having enough context to jump in at key moments and steer the company in the right direction.
We built Maestro to provide leaders with the information they need, at the moments that matter, so they can lead more effectively without drowning in noise. We empower them to see the big picture while also diving deep when necessary—just like a conductor who knows every note and every player, bringing out the best in the orchestra.
But it wasn't just about leaders. We wanted to empower every employee to understand the bigger picture. When everyone sees how their work contributes to the larger mission, that's when you feel the magic of a great team. That's when a company truly starts to play in harmony.
That's why we named our company Maestro. Because we believe great leaders don't just manage—they conduct, guiding their companies with vision, precision, and a deep connection to what really matters.
That's the story of when everything clicked—why Founder Mode matters to us, and why we named our company Maestro.