The Great CEO Within: Lessons for Startup Leaders

Matt Mochary coaches some of the most successful founders in tech. His book, The Great CEO Within, compiles the systems he teaches. It's free online. It's also one of the most practical guides to running a company I've read.

Here are the ideas that stuck with me.

Energy audit

Mochary starts with energy, not strategy. He asks CEOs to track their energy levels throughout the day. What tasks give you energy? What tasks drain you?

This sounds soft. It's not. A CEO who does draining work all day makes worse decisions. They burn out. The company suffers.

The fix: delegate everything that drains you as fast as possible. Hire for your weaknesses. Protect time for work that gives you energy.

Most CEOs do the opposite. They hold onto draining tasks because they feel important. Or because they don't trust anyone else to do them. Mochary calls this out directly.

The weekly CEO email

Every week, Mochary recommends sending an email to your team with four sections:

What I did this week. What I plan to do next week. Things I'm worried about. Things I need help with.

The format matters less than the consistency. Doing this every week creates accountability. It forces reflection. It gives your team visibility into your priorities.

Many CEOs think their job is too complex to summarize. Mochary disagrees. If you can't explain your week in a short email, you probably aren't clear on your own priorities.

The 1-1 structure

Mochary has a specific structure for 1-1 meetings. The direct report sets the agenda. They bring a written list of topics. The manager's job is to help them work through the list.

This inverts how most 1-1s work. Usually the manager drives. The direct report responds to questions. That's backwards.

The person doing the work knows what they need. The manager's job is to unblock, coach, and support. A direct-report-driven 1-1 reflects that reality.

The top goal

Every person in the company should have one top goal. Not three priorities. Not five OKRs. One thing that matters most this quarter.

Mochary calls this the "top goal." It should be measurable. It should be achievable. And everyone should know what it is.

When you have one top goal, trade-offs become clear. If something conflicts with your top goal, don't do it. If it supports your top goal, prioritize it.

Most companies have too many priorities. That means nothing is truly a priority. The top goal forces focus.

Written communication

Mochary pushes for written communication over meetings. His reasoning: writing forces clarity. Meetings let you hide behind vague statements.

Before a decision meeting, write a brief. State the decision to be made. Outline the options. Recommend one. Let people read it before the meeting.

The meeting itself becomes short. You've already done the thinking. Now you just need to align.

This approach requires discipline. It's easier to call a meeting than to write a clear brief. But the brief is more efficient. It respects people's time. It creates a record.

Fear-setting

Borrowed from Tim Ferriss, fear-setting is the opposite of goal-setting. Instead of asking what you want to achieve, ask what you're afraid of.

Write down your fears. For each fear, write what you would do if it happened. Usually, the answer is: you'd figure it out. The worst case isn't as bad as the anxiety makes it feel.

This exercise is useful for big decisions. Considering an acquisition? Starting a new product line? Fire your co-founder? Fear-setting helps you think clearly about downside scenarios.

The interview process

Mochary has strong opinions on hiring. He recommends work trials over interviews. Instead of asking someone to describe their skills, have them demonstrate them.

For executives, this means a paid trial period. Two to four weeks working together before making a final commitment. Yes, this slows hiring. It also prevents bad hires. The cost of a bad executive hire is enormous.

For other roles, consider work samples. A short project that mirrors actual job tasks. You learn more from three hours of work than from three hours of interviews.

Feedback culture

Mochary pushes for radical transparency in feedback. He recommends starting every 1-1 with a simple question: "What feedback do you have for me?"

This is uncomfortable at first. Most people won't give their boss honest feedback unprompted. You need to ask. And you need to respond non-defensively when you get it.

Over time, this builds a feedback culture. People see that honesty is safe. They start sharing more. Problems surface earlier. Trust increases.

The compounding effect

None of these ideas are revolutionary. Weekly emails. Structured 1-1s. Written communication. Single priorities. They're simple.

But simple things done consistently compound. A CEO who sends a weekly email for a year has built tremendous transparency. A team that does proper 1-1s for six months has built real relationships.

Most leaders are looking for a clever hack. Mochary's insight is that the basics, done consistently, beat clever hacks.

My takeaway

The Great CEO Within is practical because Mochary works with real CEOs on real problems. The book is essentially his coaching notes, refined and shared.

If you're a startup leader, read it. It's free. It will take you a weekend. You'll find at least three things you can implement immediately.

The hard part isn't knowing what to do. It's actually doing it consistently. That's where systems come in.