Scaling Up Is Not About Doing More. It is About Doing Less, Better
You know the best, worst thing about being a founder? You need to redefine what your job is basically every month.You start out as a product manager who's obsessed with one small problem. Over the years, you become a builder, a marketer, a salesperson, a recruiter.
And something surprising happens at the scale-up stage. When the team gets big enough that you have managers.
At that stage, your job as a CEO isn't about any particular skill; there are better marketers, better salespeople, and better product people than you on the team. At that stage, your role crystallizes into being the 'source of focus' - maintaining clarity amid mounting complexity.
Ironically, at this stage it becomes very hard to stay focused for two reasons:
- First, as you start finding success, opportunities multiply. You have the resources to add bold new features. Marketing channels work. Sales pick up. New verticals open.
- Second: as organizational complexity explodes, you face a personal crunch on where to spend your own focus. More people. More functions. More meetings. More stakeholders. Each one threatens to fragment your attention further.
If you're not prepared for it, it's actually a dangerous time for a business. I've seen companies nail product-market fit, raise capital, then drown in their own success. So your real job becomes being a focus machine. Not just for yourself, but for the entire organization. Every “no” protects your team's ability to deliver extraordinary results on what matters most.
