Cameron HeroldFounder of the COO Alliance & Invest In Your Leaders Training

How Do You Run 86 Companies? You Don't.

21 Oct 2026 · 1 min

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1:00

In this monologue, Cameron Herold recounts a dinner conversation with Morten Lund, a co‑founder and early investor of Skype who, after personal bankruptcy, built a portfolio of 86 companies. Lund explains that his role is not to oversee or coach each business; instead, he focuses on generating ideas, assembling the right people, defining a clear vision, and securing funding, then steps back and lets the teams execute. He emphasizes that owning equity does not require attending board meetings, reviewing numbers, or managing day‑to‑day operations. Some ventures will fail, others will survive, and a few will become hugely successful, but this hands‑off model allows him to maintain stakes in many companies simultaneously. Herold reflects on this as a “light‑bulb” moment for entrepreneurial strategy.

Chapters

So I had dinner with a guy in Germany about 15 years ago. His name's Morten Lund. Morten was one of the 3 founders of Skype and the original investor for Skype. He went personally bankrupt, but he had 86 companies up and running after his bankruptcy. I'm like, how do you oversee 86 companies? He's like, oh, I suck at that. I'm like, do you just go in and coach people? He goes, no, they would throw me out of the company. I'm like, do you just review the numbers and sign checks? He goes, I don't even understand the numbers. I'm like, okay, I don't get this. He goes, well, do you have stock in Apple? Yes. I said, yeah. He goes, do you go to their meetings? I said, no. He said, do you coach their employees at Apple? I said, no. He said, do you go to the board meetings? I said, no. He goes, so you own equity in the company, but you don't oversee it? I said, no. He goes, that's what I do. I'm good at having an idea, and all I'm really good at is getting the people, the vision, and the money in place, and then getting out of their way and letting them build it. And some of them will crash and burn, some of them will be okay, and some of them will be super successful, But I have 86 companies up and running. Wow. And I have equity in all of them. And I was like, light bulb.