40+ Candidates, 100% Board Vote, Hiring Your Replacement as CEO: Toni & Hadi @ Oyster

Most founders stay in the CEO seat too long.Tony Jamous didn't.In this episode of TLDR, I spoke with Tony (founder of Oyster) and Hadi (new CEO) about stepping back when the company needs something different.Not because the company was failing. Because it needed something different to scale.Tony asked himself: "What needs to happen for Oyster to reach $10 billion?"The answer? A different CEO.That realization took months to accept. Oyster was his baby. The mission - anyone, anywhere can access great jobs - was deeply personal.But 360 feedback from his team made the gap clear. They needed someone closer to operations. Someone built to scale multi-billion dollar companies. Someone with different strengths for the next chapter.So Tony went to the board and said we need to make a change.The process:Hired top-tier executive search. Interviewed 40+ candidates globally. Required a case study: "How would you make Oyster more successful than anyone imagined?" Let the board vote without him voting.Hadi got 100% of votes. Clear #1.But the hire was just the beginning. The transition required 18 months of prep, with changes to the leadership structure and careful planning designed to set Hadi up for success.The handoff happened from a position of strength. Oyster had its best financial year before the transition.Hadi's first 90 days:Listen and learn.Establish trust through communication. Build a 3-year strategy. Walk backwards from the goal.No wholesale changes for the sake of change. Protect what works. Fix what's broken. Invest where it scales.The thing most founders miss:Letting go of control maximizes enterprise value. Staying attached destroys it.Tony's now Executive Chairman. Guards the mission, stays as the external face, advises Hadi. He's not gone. He's in the right role for this chapter.Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.