Your Founder role

Many founders, at various points in their journey, begin to question the fit with their role. This can happen when the company is growing, new stakeholders join, and your role shifts in a specific direction. Another example is when they take on a temporary role such as sales, investor relations, or managing operations.

While this may be fine for a short period, if it becomes a long-term situation, it can lead to demotivation and burnout. It’s essential to regularly evaluate your role and ensure that it aligns with both the company’s needs and your personal growth.

“You have to be very nimble and very open minded. Your success is going to be very dependent on how your adapt.” – Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO of Yelp

With a growing company you know your role will change. By implementing new processes and delegating new areas will require your attention. Before you know it you are working in or learning about an area you did not expect at the beginning. Check in with yourself on the following questions to see if the current role fits you or if you might need to find someone else to take on your current tasks:

Do you know your strengths?
Where do you bring most value to your company?
How does this relate to your role and activities?
What brings you energy and what drains you?
What would you wish to delegate, stop or outsource?
If you need to step in a specific role or tasks temporarily, is there a deadline and plan to solve this?

Acting on your role

Now to start acting on your role we have created three tips for you to start. Be also mindfull of the following:

Review your activities and keep track with brings energy or drains you, and address this. What can you stop doing or delegate?
Speak-out: discuss this with your co-founders and team members or other peers or a mentor or coach. To organise your thoughts, gain fresh perspectives, clarify priorities and act upon them.
A personality test or strength analysis can help to gain insights in what you and others should do.
Book tip: Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman

We like learning and the Book Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman might help you with positioning yourself in the right role.

Share your perspective and start today

It’s our mission to raise awareness, share best practices, and provide practical tools and guidance to help founders maintain mental strength and grow personally to build successful companies.

So Founders can Thrive

We are excited about the journey ahead we are always looking for new insights and valuable connections to bring this further. It is crucial to learn from each other so we are very thankful if you are willing to share yours. Feel free to reach out to us to connect.

Discuss your personal situation with an expert

Feel the need to discuss your personal situation with a coach? As a experienced co-founder and coach for many founders and leaders in start-ups and scale-ups, Wouter can relate and provide actionable support.