Mike Andes explains why founders who stay the primary problem-solver become a bottleneck as their company scales. Once you hit a few million in revenue, hire experienced people who can both identify and solve problems themselves. Shift from day-to-day operations to strategy, or you'll limit your organization's growth.
I found until I could pay someone very, very handsomely that had a lot of experience, I had to be somewhere in that equation either. And a lot of times I think for a lot of people say under $2 or $3 million, you're gonna find someone that can find problems, but they still come to you to get the solution. Yeah. And then they might be able to execute, but that middle section of finding the solution is a lot of times what you're paying for. Uh, I found in any role, whether it be engineering or whether it be product or whether it be sales and marketing, it's like, can you find the solution? Because if I'm the solution, I just become the bottleneck for the business. And I think as I've gone, uh, the revenues of business has grown. That's the thing I've had to figure out is like, I will have to pay— what I'm paying for is I don't become the bottleneck for all decisions of the business and therefore can focus on strategy instead of the operations of finding problems, finding solutions, and then just go get it done.
