It&#x27;s a different experience, for sure, but not necessarily an easier one.  Common perception is that founder CEO&#x27;s call all the shots like some third world dictator whose word is law and cannot even be questioned.   Well, appearances can be deceiving.  I went from undergrad to CEO of a startup that my best friend and I founded.  I very much had a boss: our lead investor who settled in as Chairman of the Board and unleashed his domineering personality to run rampant on our weekly management calls.  I had an extreme amount of pressure from him to hit deadlines and hold ourselves accountable to our excel projections (which, like most early startup projections, were pretty useless to begin with).  Over time, as success bought some freedom from the board and investors, a few of our most important anchor clients filled their role instead.  I would spend months feeling like a certain VP or SVP at a make-or-break client for us was basically calling the shots in large areas of my life.  In hindsight what we were lacking was real mentorship, management guidance, and similar help, (unfortunately) none of which were included with capital from our investors.  We figured it out as we went along while taking flack from all sides.  Only later when we were acquired and I had a &#x27;&#x27;normal&#x27;&#x27; boss with a &#x27;&#x27;normal&#x27;&#x27; p&amp;l, career oriented direct reports, etc, did I realize how different it is, in some ways worse but in some ways much better.  It was a heck of a lot more predictable and less stressful.  I didn&#x27;t have to pull any rabbits out of hats I just had to wander over to the rabbit cage and feed them.  But, without a doubt, experiencing the whole cycle made me a better founder down the road.