The chief executive of software and online retail giant THG has said floating on the London Stock Exchange is 'not an experience I'd recommend to anyone'.
Matthew Moulding, who also co-founded the Manchester-headquartered group, added that it has been "a decent test of our start-up mentality".
He also said "the way we’ve been treated since joining the LSE has done nothing but add fuel to our insatiable fighting spirit".
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THG floated on the London Stock Exchange in September 2020 in a move that raised £1.88bn.
At the time, the group was valued at £5.4bn and the float was the largest by a UK tech company since 2015.
However since then its market capitalisation has been slashed to around £877m and its shares are down by almost 30% so far this year.
At the start of March, Mr Moulding branded the LSE an 'incredibly tough place' to build a technology business as he backed Arm's decision to pursue a US-only stock market listing this year.
The new comments about the LSE were made in a social media post about leadership and management at THG.
Writing on LinkedIn, Mr Moulding said: "Last week, THG shared a post about our Leadership & Management Academy, and it sparked a conversation with the team about leadership, what it looks like at THG, and what it means to me.
"Each year we recruit hundreds of young people straight out of education and need leaders to help get the best from them.
"We give people real responsibility at THG. The learnings are intense, burnout is a risk, but the opportunity is massive. Our academy is essential for us to develop future leaders and guide people through the challenges.
"I’m often asked what it takes to be a leader at THG. There’s no simple answer. But there are some essential qualities that everyone must have. A requirement is humility. Too many people change as their careers progress.
"Egos grow and self-appreciation spirals out of control. Confidence is a great quality, but arrogance is ugly, especially to team members. The world has an ample supply of these people. Humility in leaders is a rare quality.
"If a manager or director is the most talented person in their team, then we’ve made a mistake. Why would anyone want to be the best person at everything in a team? It’s uncomfortable managing people who are more talented than you. It’s easier to avoid the challenge. Most do. They’ll underperform soon enough, and changes follow.
"The best leaders at THG are those who surround themselves with people better than them in every job. I love these leaders. The ones who know the team will be just fine if they don’t turn up tomorrow, or next week.
"I invest a lot of energy in maintaining humility across the senior team at THG. An essential way we do this is by maintaining a 'start-up mentality'. Irrespective of how big THG is, we still run it like we’re in our first year. It’s THG against the world.
"I was worried listing THG in London would dim our start-up mentality. I couldn’t have been further wrong. The way we’ve been treated since joining the LSE has done nothing but add fuel to our insatiable fighting spirit. It’s certainly not an experience I’d recommend to anyone, but it’s been a decent test of our start-up mentality."
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