This is a text book lesson on how fast growth coupled with the need for outside financing can disrupt the tenure of a long term founder. Whether the Chobani founder's replacement is due entirely to the financing and the change in control that accompanied the funds or the need for financing is just a result of the natural progression that a company makes from the creative founder to the execution oriented successor, this is a common theme among growing and successful companies still run by their founder.
While this news was first reported in January of this year, the company has yet to announce a replacement for Ulukaya. According to Wall Street Journal reporter Annie Gasparro,
“The deal occurred because Chobani had grown beyond his [Ulukaya's] ability to run it."
In the past, Ulukaya had voiced his disdain for buttoned-up professionalism, preferring his own “seat-of-the-pants style,” as Gasparro calls it. “We didn’t have any corporate executive types,” he said in previous interviews. “I didn’t want to hear all that marketing, supply chain, logistics stuff—most of it is BS.”
Apparently, what Ulukyay thinks about corporate types no longer matters.
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