Founder Role Design Template
Founders spend hours designing their organization; determining which functions should be combined or disaggregated; scoping needed roles; determining the level and compensation for those roles; and recruiting new executives.And yet, founders rarely take stock in their own role, which is among the highest leverage in the entire organization. And just as a company’s strategy must continually evolve, a startup founder must frequently take stock in the work they are uniquely excellent at and craft the right role for themselves. The full case for doing this work is published on LinkedIn here.
(1) Elevate your game and find your flow:
Populate the table below. Include elements from both your personal and professional lives. Think about when you get lost in work. Think about times when you and your team have made major strides forward. On the flipside, consider things that frustrate you, tasks that you procrastinate doing.
Look for patterns and identify a few themes of flow for yourself and a few areas of energy-zapping “anti-flow”. In the immediate term (ie, today): ask yourself, how might I inject just 30 more minutes of flow or play into my work? What’s the trigger?
(2) Ground your game.
Ask yourself what will break today if you don’t do it?
In the immediate term, you will continue to do the work in this section, alongside looking for flow opportunities from above section (1).
(3) Plan your game.
Now reconsider the must-do’s from section (2) and how, when, and with what resources you could ultimately offload this work, or adapt it to be more flow infused.
Think about a few timelines: 1 year out; right after the next round; 3+ years out, 10 years out.
Imagine an ideal flow-infused role for yourself. Be aspirational.
Then make a plan that gives you the resources .
Share your plan with your team, with a coach if you have one, with your board. Get their thoughts. Then execute.
* The founder of a startup where I was an executive during the Supercritical stage of growth originally shared the framework in section 1 with me. I had joined the startup after the A-round of financing, and we took stock of my role just after the B-round closed; it was through this work that I ultimately identified my own passions, and ultimately crafted my dream job as Chief People Officer and Operating Partner at Renegade Partners. I have much gratitude for this framework he shared, and for the conversations we had. I have now expanded this work to both ground it in the realities a founder faces, and to plan it toward a more flow-filled future.