Not Needed for Everything

There is a version of founder advice that says the goal is to build a company that runs without you. That has never been my goal. I am an active owner and operator, and I intend to stay one.

What I do want is a company that does not need me for every routine decision. I want people to own their areas and move them forward. When something important is too slow or going the wrong way, I jump in, and I jump in hard.

Those two things pull against each other. My emails from the last five years show both.

Handing it over

In 2021 I was working with an outside consultant on DMA. There was a live disagreement about how sales should be organised between us and our delivery partner, and I had strong views on it. I set out the conflict, and then:

I will let you decide w/ [the partner] today.

The same day, I told him he would be brought in again if the partner and I did not see eye to eye:

I will certainly include you if I feel that I am a detriment to DMA like I did this last time

Sometimes the owner is the problem in the room. The useful thing is to notice, and bring in someone who is not.

In April 2021 a senior member of the team sent our delivery partner a detailed complaint about quality and throughput, without waiting for me. My whole reply was: “Thanks for being proactive.” It was his area. He handled it.

In September 2021 we drew DMA’s org chart. Several boxes were empty. When the designer asked whether those roles were simply not filled in yet: “Correct; vacant.” In November: “If we don’t have job descriptions pls develop.” The point of both was the same: roles that someone other than me would own.

Jumping in

The other half is just as real.

In December 2020, when our partner was falling short on the people DMA needed, I did not wait for a process. “Let’s get on a call to discuss all these points asap.” The partner came back the next day with a new staffing plan.

In December 2021 a development quote promised for that day did not arrive. “I was advised that I was going to get a development quote for DMA today. Just so you know, I didn’t.” When the explanation came back, I made the point that mattered: the quote had been delayed for days without a reason, and the client experience was what was at stake.

In April 2022 I joined a scheduled call with the partner’s HR team and waited eight minutes for it to start. I wrote that I was going to bow out of that responsibility, and the next day made it final: “there is no need for me to get involved anymore. We will let [the partner] guide you on HR initiatives.” That was handing over too, though not the gentle kind.

In January 2025, reading a weak weekly sales report from the same partner, I put a clock on it: “lets try this for 45 days February 15 and see where it takes us.” In April, after a run of cancellations, the partner asked me to consider the length of our relationship. My reply was four words:

Sorry I have had enough.

The tension is the job

I could tell this as a story about learning to let go. That would not be honest, and it is not the goal.

The line I try to hold is this. Routine decisions belong to the person who owns the area, and I try not to take them back. If something is important, too slow or off track, I step in: a client who is waiting, a commitment that has slipped, a relationship that is no longer working. The emails above are what that looks like in practice, including the times I was the problem and the times I was right to push.

Related: Safety to Learn and When the Work Happens in Another Company.