Diagnosis: Founderitis. (Packets).

Founding a company takes vision, charisma, energy and all sorts of other venerable characteristics, but those leadership qualities often aren't enough to steer that same company from start-up to full-fledged corporation. In fact, often the entrepreneur can unwittingly derail it, according to a report by executive placement firm Spencer Stuart, which describes "founderitis" as a painful corporate affliction and identifies a variety of symptoms. Typically, the VCs and board members make the diagnosis, and they almost always treat the malady by asking the current CEO to voluntarily step aside.

"The skills that allow a founder to launch a company, get it funded and attract the first team are extremely different from skills required to take it from that point into a scalable business," says Scott Gordon, managing director of Internet practice at Spencer Stuart and author of the report. "The founder tends to be either very technical or very sales- and marketing-driven, and in neither case do they typically have the company-building skills that are needed."

As in most of life, identifying the problem is often easier than finding the solution, but Gordon says the transition of power and search for a replacement can commence with the cooperation of the founder if the process is handled diplomatically.

www.spencerstuart.com