Today I'm writing about founders.

+ a $3B ice cream sale, and a bad joke from Apple exec.

Good afternoon. Blanket disclaimer that I’m being deliberately provocative today. I’m looking for counter arguments and banter.

I’m still thinking about the East Fork story I linked to yesterday. The deck of the story on the Times site reads “Since East Fork started in 2009, its fans have been drawn to a founder’s frank and candid style of communication. Can it stay transparent in a muddy world?”

The cautionary tale of a founder making their own face a pillar of their brand’s success isn’t novel. But I haven’t heard it in a few months (you know the ones I’m talking about…). There’s an embedded photo in the Times story of Connie Matisse, founder of East Fork, in the bathtub kissing towards the camera. This is on the brand’s Instagram account. Below the photo, a blurb from the email Matisse sent to the staff of the company recently: “My motto for the Marketing Team this year has been to democratize and decentralize, to slowly shift the narrative away from myself and my family, toward a brand voice that was shared across many.”

I’ve worked at companies where the founder is the face. The problem is that founders are humans and none of us can really predict what life throws at us. Hangovers, exhaustion, marriage, anger, or simply changing our minds. Unfortunately, you know who doesn't care about this? Customers, employees, and investors (with certain exceptions). I’m reminded that Ben Horowitz once wrote in a blog post, “Nobody cares, just run your company.” I like that.