Men's Wearhouse made headlines recently when it decided to can its TV spokesman and founder George Zimmer.This type of thing happens all the time, says Noam Wasserman, a professor at Harvard Business School. Sometimes their passion detracts from their management skills and they aren't suited to run the companies their start-ups grow into.
Here are seven more founders who learned the hard way.
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Martin Eberhard, Tesla
Tesla Motors might be synonymous with the name Elon Musk, but the company has two founders.
In 2007, Tesla fired Martin Eberhard from his post as president, but apparently signing a"non-disparagement agreement" didn't stop him from sounding off on the company.
In 2009, Eberhard sued Musk for libel and breach of contract, as well as taking credit for developing Tesla’s Roadster. The suit also claimed Tesla had withheld his severance pay as a consequence of violating the non-disparagement clause.
Danny Zappin, Maker Studios
Maker Studios' co-founder and recent CEO Daniel Zappin alleges the companybreached his contract by pushing him out.
According to Variety, which first broke the story, the lawsuit says "Maker Studios and other defendants 'conspired and agreed to use their power to line their pockets with Maker’s assets, to deny Mr. Zappin, Maker’s then chief executive officer (‘CEO’), of all of his powers, and to gut the rights of common stock shareholders to control Maker and its corporate activities.'"
Last December, Time Warner took a stake in Maker Studios, leading a $36 million investment.
Andrew Mason, Groupon
Despite being fired, Andrew Mason still took the high road.
Mason broke the news in a farewell letterto Groupon employees, in which he took responsibility for the company's failings, including its disappointing earnings since going public in 2011.
"As CEO, I am accountable," he wrote. "You are doing amazing things at Groupon, and you deserve the outside world to give you a second chance. I'm getting in the way of that."
On July 2, Mason will release a seven-track record of "motivational business music" called Hardly Workin'.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider