On this episode of Questions and Cocktails, Christopher Lochhead responds to another question emailed by one his listeners. A 1st time startup CEO for a new venture-backed company seeks advice on how to become a legendary leader.

“Legendary people build legendary companies. It's that simple.” - Christopher Lochhead 1st Startup Time CEO

Love the Problem, Not Just the Solution

Christopher breaks down his advice into seven points and the first of which is to love the problem. The most legendary of entrepreneurs make it a point to focus on either a problem that people don't know they have or re-imagining a problem the market knows it has, viewing the problem in a completely different way.

Prosecute the “Magic Triangle” as a 1st Time Startup CEO

Christopher and his co-authors addressed the concept in both Play Bigger and Niche Down. The “magic triangle” is the three things legendary executive teams and entrepreneurs get right. These three are product, company and category, and all are equally important.

As a CEO, you must be focused on all three while at the same time being an evangelist for the problem. The bigger the problem, the more urgent and more strategic you have to be since people will apply more money and time to solve that problem. And in turn, these problems create categories, the product and company intertwined.

Surround Yourself with Legendary People

For years, Christopher parroted the prevalent notion in Silicon Valley that you must always hire A players. But the truth is you will never have a company full of them. This means a CEO must figure out where to put the A players and B players to bring out their best.

A good B player is what you need for a lot of roles that must be fulfilled. But in key executive roles, whether in engineering, sales, or marketing and especially in the beginning, you need legendary people to fill in these roles. In this regard, think about who your board is and who your advisers.

To hear the other four points Christopher offers, download and listen to the episode!

We hope you enjoyed Questions and Cocktails 1st Time Startup CEO! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!