Get out of the Way!

It happened to Steven Jobs (although he has returned). . . and many others. An entrepreneur builds a business from scratch, drives growth and then . . . . At some point in time, the entrepreneur needs to hire an Operations-oriented leader to drive the business to the next level. The startup business is no longer in startup mode but a viable unit. The skill set needed for building the initial business is very different than operating a growth business. The leader needs to delegate responsibility, listen to your staff, operationalize decision making and sometimes, get out of the way!

Here is an article from Forbes.com on the topic.

Getting To The Next Level
Nice Little Business--Now Get Out Of The Way
Dale Buss

Business is starting to take off, and beyond the window is nothing but blue sky. Just one problem: you. Despite what your ego says, you probably aren't capable of piloting your small business to the next level.

That's why Stephen Lowit, co-founder of iSymmetry, handed the controls to someone who could. Back in 2005, after six years in business, the Alpharetta, Ga.-based IT-services firm had plateaued at about $20 million in revenues. That's when Lowit and his three partners, all family members, brought Bruce Culbert, a former senior executive at BearingPoint (nyse: BE - news - people ) and Salesforce.com (nyse: CRM - news - people ), on board--first as a consultant, then later as chief executive. Culbert, they believed, had the management chops to catapult the company to the $100 million mark.

Sure enough, Culbert shook up iSymmetry's organizational structure, eliminated redundant roles and focused Lowit on what he did best: dealmaking. "Now we have an outside shot at smashing $40 million in revenues already this year," says Lowit. "And that's just within 18 months."

In stepping aside, Lowit has plenty of illustrious company. Take Howard Schultz, founder of the now ubiquitous Starbucks (nasdaq: SBUX - news - people ) coffee chain. After an already scorching run, in 2000 Schultz handed the reins to Orin Smith, who managed to more than triple the number of locations to 8,500 before retiring in 2005. Web-auctioneer eBay (nasdaq: EBAY - news - people ) was ready for a public offering just three years after it launched in 1995, yet founder Pierre Omidyar was smart enough to know he couldn't take the company through the IPO and beyond. Enter CEO Meg Whitman, a Hasbro (nyse: HAS - news - people ) general manager who never even heard of eBay but who knew how to manage for growth. EBay's current market cap: $45 billion. And then there's Herb Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines (nyse: LUV - news - people ). After battling regulators to establish an industry iconoclast, Kelleher in 1978 installed Howard Putman, who tripled Southwest's revenues and profits in three years.

"Most entrepreneurs end up being in their own way, being stubborn and ignorant, not knowing what to do or what they don't know," says Murray Smith, founder of OneCoach, a Toronto-based consultant to start-ups.

Indeed, letting go is something that many entrepreneurs--often a controlling, egocentric lot--find hard to accept. "The biggest mistake founders often make is that they see their company as a way of getting in charge," says serial entrepreneur Treb Ryan, founder of OpSource, a Santa Clara, Calif., manufacturing-software outfit. "If you just want to be in charge, get an MBA and work your way up through an organization."

Then there's that whole nagging feeling of parental attachment. Last month, Adam Bold, founder of the Mutual Fund Store, an Overland Park, Kan.-based investment-advisory firm with 54 offices nationwide, turned the keys over to David Byers, a senior manager at H&R Block (nyse: HRB - news - people ). While Bold knew that stepping aside was the smart move if he ever wanted his firm to join the ranks of Fidelity and Merrill Lynch (nyse: MER - news - people ), he admits letting go was tough: "[The company] was my baby," he says. "I nurtured this thing from the very beginning."

Tougher still is finding good help. Of course you want someone with proven experience in managing growing companies, preferably those in your industry, but where to find those people?

Dave Driggers, founder of Verari Systems, a San Diego-based computer solutions firm, went shopping among the members of his advisory board. In order to take his $100 million (sales) company to $250 million, he knew he needed leadership in two key areas: sales-channel development and service support. David Wright, former chief of Amdahl, a supercomputer company, had joined Verari's board in late 2005 and had loads of marketing experience. By mid-2006, Wright became chief executive. The other comforting thing about the appointment, says Driggers: "It would have been much tougher to hand it over if David weren't already connected to the company."

The final challenge when stepping aside: Where do you go?

John Frank--founder of MetaCarta, which sells geographic search software--went back to what he did best: technology. After hiring a new chief executive in 2003, Frank got out of management completely and plunged back into improving the company's mapping solutions. He also enrolled in graduate school and worked out of a field office in Washington State, far from the headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

"If you don't find some way to step out deliberately, you can't emotionally let go," Frank says. "The thing to figure out is which decisions I still really have to be there for."