You’ve hired great people.You’re still answering every question.The final post in Leaks in the Lifecycle: The Founder Bottleneck — what happens when growth stops because everything still routes through you.Here’s how to fix it before burnout hits.
One of the keys for me is my holiday test. I literally always go on holiday and am unattainable. This demonstrates have I delegated well enough, are the team empowered to make decisions regardless of me, do they have the tools to continue to transform the business and the courage to do so. Drains up when I get back. Make some adjustments. Grow stronger. The cracks and mistakes are your friend not your enemy. Brilliant article series! Thanks for sharing 🌟
Glad to see it hits for others besides founders! Documentation doesn’t have to mean rigid structure. It’s just good practice to keep everyone on the same page and aligned. Even when the inevitable pivot needs to happen!
Super insightful article and perspective. I've been in small companies and one recently had this founder syndrome. I wish I could have sent them this quote as it was a struggle to have my voice heard, my different perspective, my different way of doing things heard, no matter how many times I tried reframing, restating, showing, and doing differently. Now I know a bit better why it was such a struggle: "You hired these people for a reason…
You already proved you have great judgment. Now trust it enough to let them run with it."
This is an incredibly accurate description of the Founder Bottleneck.
Glad to hear it hit that way. You work with enough of them and you learn to spot it from afar. Appreciate you
One of the keys for me is my holiday test. I literally always go on holiday and am unattainable. This demonstrates have I delegated well enough, are the team empowered to make decisions regardless of me, do they have the tools to continue to transform the business and the courage to do so. Drains up when I get back. Make some adjustments. Grow stronger. The cracks and mistakes are your friend not your enemy. Brilliant article series! Thanks for sharing 🌟
I love this!!
This is so very true, especially the effect it has on the team who then can’t move anything forward effectively
Scale begins the moment you stop being the system.
Great post Katie. Not as a founder, but lived this first hand as a founding member of a CS team, and as an employee.
It does require a little bit of blind trust, and to your point DOCUMENTATION!
Glad to see it hits for others besides founders! Documentation doesn’t have to mean rigid structure. It’s just good practice to keep everyone on the same page and aligned. Even when the inevitable pivot needs to happen!
Super insightful article and perspective. I've been in small companies and one recently had this founder syndrome. I wish I could have sent them this quote as it was a struggle to have my voice heard, my different perspective, my different way of doing things heard, no matter how many times I tried reframing, restating, showing, and doing differently. Now I know a bit better why it was such a struggle: "You hired these people for a reason…
You already proved you have great judgment. Now trust it enough to let them run with it."