Lack of control over Ops & Decision Making (Leadership Gap)
by karthikeyan nataraj
1. Lack of Systems/ Unclear systems
1.1. Founder's dependency for decisions/No delegation
1.1.1. Setup systems, SWP, tools (MIS, ERP etc)
1.1.1.1. To set Goals
1.1.1.1.1. Financial (Profit, Revenue, Cost)
1.1.1.1.2. Functional (OGSM, OKR)
1.1.1.2. To Track
1.1.1.2.1. Roles (WHO)
1.1.1.2.2. Report (HOW MUCH)
1.1.1.2.3. Review (WHAT NEXT)
1.1.1.3. To achieve goals (HOW)
1.1.1.3.1. Functional strategy
2. Ineffective Teams / No functional Teams
2.1. Leadership Team
2.1.1. Build functional Team
2.1.1.1. Functional Heads
2.1.1.1.1. Marketing
2.1.1.1.2. Sales
2.1.1.1.3. Operations
2.1.1.1.4. R&D
2.1.1.1.5. HR
2.1.1.1.6. Accounts/Legal
2.2. Ineffective Team
2.2.1. Capability/Skills
2.2.1.1. Coaching/Training
2.2.2. Behaviour
2.2.2.1. Fire/lay-off
3. Leadership skill gap (Founders)
3.1. Develop/Enhance skillset
3.1.1. Enhance Clarity
3.1.1.1. Business Goals
3.1.1.2. Functional Goals
3.1.2. Enhance Capability
3.1.2.1. Strategy
3.1.2.2. Systems
3.1.2.3. Teams
3.1.3. Enhance Courage
3.1.3.1. Decision making
3.1.3.2. To invest time in team building
3.1.3.3. Build leadership team
3.2. Hire a new CEO
3.2.1. Coaching
3.2.2. Alignment to vision
4. **Founder's Responsibilities**
4.1. Strategy Management (Strategy)
4.2. Functional Management (Systems)
4.3. People Management (Teams)
5. Assumptions:
5.1. 3 Founders co-founded and working in the Start-up company Agni
5.2. Growth business --> focused on scaling & expansion by setting things up
5.3. Business model is profitable & scalable. Business growth strategy is stable (Sales,revenue)
5.4. Started with 10 employees now have 150 employees
6. A startup is growing rapidly, but its founders are struggling to maintain control over operations and decision-making. Hiring a professional CEO could help manage growth but might lead to unintended consequences. What should be startup's approach?
7. **Recommendations:**
7.1. Founder taking up the CEO role and other founders functional head roles
7.2. A blend of flat and functional hiererarchy to enable innovation and accountability
7.3. Hiring executives for niche skills for the company like Legal, Finance, IT systems etc
7.4. MIS implementation along with systems and tools like CRM, ERP for different functions to bring more control and standards
7.5. Founders coaching and building a leadership team and delegating their responisbilities