I have been wondering about option 1 (creator-type founder hires manager/CEO for managerial tasks, keeps focusing on creating) for quite some time.
Google is a great example where Larry Page and Sergey Brin interviewed Eric Schmidt and hired him as their CEO. Worked great for 10 years, and their relationship seems to keep working today.
Are there more examples (also unsuccessful ones)? I'm actually not aware of any. It seems much more common that one of the co-founders becomes a full-time manager (or that they are kicked out of their own company).
First example that comes to mind (although not a tech company) is TechCrunch with Arrington running the editorial side and hiring a CEO. That seemed to work well for a while.
Google is a great example where Larry Page and Sergey Brin interviewed Eric Schmidt and hired him as their CEO. Worked great for 10 years, and their relationship seems to keep working today.
Are there more examples (also unsuccessful ones)? I'm actually not aware of any. It seems much more common that one of the co-founders becomes a full-time manager (or that they are kicked out of their own company).