The Tech Leader's Playbook · 2026-06-18 · 1h 7m
For more thoughts, clips, and updates, follow Avetis Antaplyan on Instagram: In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Mike Krupit, a former CTO, COO, CEO, founder, executive coach, and strategic advisor, to explore what it really takes to build companies that can scale without becoming dependent on one leader. Mike shares how he grew from software engineer into executive leadership and why he believes leadership is the transferable skill that matters most. He opens up about early mistakes as a manager, including learning that leading people requires a very different skill set than solving technical problems. From there, the conversation moves into one of Mike’s core leadership philosophies: the best leaders make themselves dispensable by building strong teams, clear systems, and healthy communication habits. Avetis and Mike also discuss succession planning, founder-led sales, founder mode, emotional maturity, direct feedback, boundaries, forecasting, and why leaders must understand where profit actually comes from inside the business.
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