Lars was brilliant. As the founder of a deep-tech startup, he built an innovative product in the first two years, convinced investors, and assembled a team of fifteen people. He set the vision, wrote the code, and made all key decisions. Then, everything started to stagnate.

• His team felt frustrated. They couldn’t make decisions without Lars’ approval.
• Product development slowed down. Lars had a vision, but the team struggled to translate it into clear priorities.
• New hires dropped out. Specialists joined with enthusiasm but felt unheard.

Lars wasn’t doing anything wrong—he simply wasn’t evolving with his company.

The Hard Truth: Not every founder should remain CEO
Visionary founders are crucial in the early phase, but that doesn’t mean they are the right leaders for the scale-up phase.

• A startup needs a pioneer.
• A scale-up needs a process builder.
• An established company needs a structure thinker.

Lars had three choices:
1.Adapt his leadership style.
2.Hire a strong operational leader.
3.Step aside and appoint a CEO who could scale the company.ç

Many companies delay this decision until it’s too late, leading to internal chaos and missed opportunities. Is your leadership structure still the right fit for where your company is now?