Frank Slootman rewrites the rules of ‘Founder Mode’

Frank Slootman has built a career as a professional CEO—a unique path in the tech world—and he’s developed a reputation for transforming B2B companies into industry powerhouses. With high-profile stints at Data Domain, ServiceNow, and most recently Snowflake (he stepped away from running Snowflake this year but remains Chair of the Board) Slootman has honed a distinct management philosophy that eschews Silicon Valley cliches in favor of old-fashioned grit and unsentimental pragmatism.

In a candid B2BaCEO conversation, Frank shared his battle-tested rules for what it takes to lead enterprise technology companies effectively. Here are his key insights.

“Founder vs. Manager Mode” is a false dichotomy.

Frank bristles at the notion that startup founders and professional managers are inherently at odds. “When we come in as non-founder managers, we bring the energy, the passion, the zeal… After a while, you’re part of the fabric of the company,” he told me. In other words, founders are obviously critical to organizations, and their beliefs, desires, and intentions carry a lot of weight. But a great leader can take that founding vision and run, maximizing a company’s potential. When Frank took over ServiceNow from founder Fred Luddy in 2011, the company had about $100 million in annual revenue. But by the time he left in 2017, he had transformed the company from help-desk IT solution into an all-you-can-eat buffet of other services, including HR and customer service management. Its revenue had grown to $1.4 billion.

Confront the brutal facts, no matter how ugly.

Companies that fail are often those “that can’t handle the truth” about their deepest problems, Frank says. A sales slump may actually stem from a flawed product, not a lackluster sales team. “A lousy salesperson can sell a great product, but a great salesperson cannot sell a lousy one,” he notes. Frank built a reputation as a “confrontational” executive. But confrontational can be misinterpreted, he says. “Being a CEO is a highly confrontational role, but they think that confrontational means grabbing people by the lapels,” Frank told me. “That’s not what I mean by confrontation. Confrontation is about confronting issues and situations that are either not good enough or could be better.” Leadership is about relentlessly confronting reality and having the courage to address what others would rather ignore.

Even when things were going great at ServiceNow, for example, Frank would spend meetings letting the board know about “the hell between my ears”—namely, things he was worried about, things that were going wrong, and anything that could potentially go wrong. Founders and leaders must commit to a kind of intellectual honesty, seeing business situations for what they really are, rather than giving them a gloss. 

Stay engaged, but avoid micromanagement.

There’s a fine line between digging into details and being overbearing, and Frank knows micromanagement is disempowering. He believes he’s found a middle ground: regularly asking direct reports, “How do you think things are going?” It lets a middle manager reveal the details, which Slootman can then dig into. The tactic keeps him closely involved without stepping on toes.

Don’t try to prop up weaknesses or ‘fix’ a team that’s falling down.

Many leaders try to help their reports by patching over deficiencies. Frank rejects this. “The boss is not around to try and shore up everyone’s shortcomings,” he says. The company can’t grow if the CEO is constantly playing catch-up, and a team won’t thrive if the manager is always filling in for the weakest players. 

The “grow-at-all-costs” mentality of the past decade is over.

Frank weathered the frothy “throw something at the wall and hope it sticks” era of Silicon Valley, specifically as he led companies like ServiceNow and Snowflake. But that era came to a halt with an economic slowdown in 2022-2023, which also brought widespread declining stock prices and a startup funding slump. He credits his hard-nosed pragmatism for helping Snowflake move into a more disciplined era, setting a “culture of challenge” within the company that meant spending the majority of meetings discussing what wasn’t working, rather than what was. 

Prepare for new business models as AI resets the economics of industries.

Drawing on decades in tech, Frank believes AI and agentic systems represent a fundamental shift, not an incremental change. Startup founders may already have some inkling about AI’s transformational nature, but all company leaders should shift their business models accordingly. “AI and autonomous systems will reset the economics of whole businesses,” he predicts, from call centers to data analytics. AI-native newcomers will quickly outmaneuver legacy players simply because they’re more agile. Leaders should audit current processes for AI integration potential and start developing AI literacy throughout their companies.

Take more time to diagnose; don’t rush to judgment.

Frank believes businesspeople, especially those with fancy credentials, are quick to compare their problems to what’s happening in other companies. Instead, he advocates a methodical, medical-style approach to problem-solving. Take a step back and assess root causes objectively, evaluating each employee’s situation on its own merits, rather than looking outside. “In all my years managing businesses, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve stopped the meeting and said—guys, you know, let’s take a step back here and, you know, really look at this and examine all the possible explanations of what’s going on,” Frank says. 

Frank Slootman looks past the hype in favor of relentless realism and a drive to confront brutal facts—and as a result, has a transformative impact on the enterprise companies he steps in to lead. Listen in to more of my conversations with Frank, on How to Build a Snowflake and How to Amp it Up.