4 minBusiness
On Founders Spend Only a Third of Their Time as Traditional CEOs
The leaders of the Swiss running brand On say that dedicating most of their working hours to product, culture, and brand-building rather than conventional executive duties is a deliberate strategy that drives the company's success.
The founders of the Swiss athletic footwear and apparel brand On spend only about 33 percent of their working time on traditional chief executive duties, and they say that choice is a central reason the company has grown into a global competitor in the running market.
Rather than shifting into a conventional executive role as the business scales, the founders have kept the majority of their attention on the areas they believe built the brand in the first place: product development, company culture, and direct engagement with the running community. That approach stands in contrast to the path many founders take once their companies reach a certain size, when day-to-day operations, board management, and financial oversight begin to consume the calendar.
According to the founders, the remaining two-thirds of their time goes toward work that does not fit neatly into a standard CEO job description. That includes spending time with athletes and customers, shaping the design and feel of new products, and reinforcing the internal culture that employees experience day to day. They argue that this hands-on involvement keeps the brand authentic and gives the company an edge that a purely administrative leadership structure would not provide.
The strategy reflects a broader debate in the business world about what founders owe their companies as they mature. Some investors and boards push for professional management and a clear separation between ownership and operations. Others argue that founder-led companies retain a speed and originality that is difficult to replicate once the original team steps back. On's leaders appear to have chosen a middle path, delegating operational responsibilities while holding on to the creative and cultural levers they consider essential.
For a brand competing against much larger and longer-established rivals in the athletic footwear industry, that distinction matters. On has built its reputation on distinctive design and a strong connection to runners, and the founders say their continued involvement in those areas is not nostalgia but strategy. By staying close to the product and the people who use it, they say they can spot shifts in consumer taste earlier and respond faster than a more traditional corporate hierarchy would allow.
The founders' comments also highlight a practical question for growing companies: how much of a chief executive's time should be spent on management versus creation. In On's case, the answer is roughly one-third management and two-thirds everything else. The company's leadership treats that ratio not as a temporary arrangement but as a durable model, one they believe will continue to fuel the brand's momentum as it expands into new markets and product categories.
Whether other founder-led companies adopt a similar split remains to be seen. What On's experience suggests is that the definition of a modern chief executive is not fixed, and that for some businesses, the most valuable work a founder can do may fall well outside the traditional corner office.
