Venture Capitalists (VCs) report that more than 50% of the time they have to replace the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in a venture backed company before the investor exits. This process is often painful for the people involved and disruptive to the fledging enterprise. This paper explores the CEO leadership requirements for venture backed companies through in depth interviews with 10 venture capitalists. Specifically, we look at changing leadership requirements for CEOs in growing venture backed companies and explore whether there are signals that can help both CEOs and venture capitalists who fund their companies avoid being surprised by the need for leadership change. A theory and model for CEO leadership in venture backed companies is proposed.
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