FAST COMPANY: Can a founder become a CEO?
JOEL WEINGARTEN: I think that often the founder is the ideal CEO, especially at the beginning of a company's life cycle. I think that the founder's often, should be the most passionate person about the idea, understand the idea the best, and I think that if you can really understand where your strengths are and build a team around your weaknesses, a founder is in a good place to build that business.
Can a founder become a CEO?
Prior to founding StyleOwner, Joel taught robotics at Penn in the Electrical and Systems Engineering Department. There he developed a successful inner city education initiative using robotics in classrooms under an NSF grant.
During graduate school at the University of Michigan, Joel was a part of a DARPA (defense department research) grant where he helped develop the world’s fastest legged robot (RHex). When not building robots or websites, Joel can be found cooking with his wife Anna, playing in Central Park or turning the temperature down in the office (he kindly bought Snuggies for everyone in the office).
