When people ask me the solution to the patriarch problem, I offer two answers. First, I suggest that you just have to wait for a bunch of people to die. Although this is harsh, it’s often hard to change the behavioral dynamics of people who are stuck in a hierarchical model, and as a result you just have to wait them out. Next, the leaders of the startup community should simply ignore the patriarchs. Go do your thing without getting the approval of the patriarchs.
