There are some motions/tactics that only the founder can do.

Winning first customers
Closing early partnerships
Raising money
Hiring key employees/leaders into the business
Making key strategic decisions
Going from zero to one

These things simply can't be farmed out to the team.

I've seen founders who had an 80-90% conversion rate on sales calls while their best salespeople couldn't exceed 50%.

I've seen influencer outreach activities that went nowhere for months that instantly started gaining traction with founder attention.

I've seen big decisions go around and around in circles for weeks until the founder joined the conversation, elevated the thinking, and made a decisive decision after a 1-hour meeting.

Why?

Because - right or wrong - the best founders command a unique level of influence, salesmanship, operational latitude, and creativity that can't be matched by employees.

It might be harsh, but if those employees could do what the founder does (have a vision, start a company, raise money, bring a team together), they likely wouldn’t be employees.

As a founder, be careful about delegating these critical "founder-only" tasks too early. Lean in, and use your superpowers to fast-forward your company to the future.

#founders #fundraising #zerotoone #consultingconvos #startups #scaleups #growth