Guide
Know when it's time to hire your first ops person
Recognise the signs that you personally have become the bottleneck in the business.
Track what you're actually spending your week on
For one week, log your hours in rough categories: strategy, sales, admin, firefighting. Most founders are shocked how much time goes to tasks someone else could do.
Notice repeated tasks that don't need your judgment
If you're doing the same administrative or operational task every week, and it doesn't require a founder-level decision, that's the first thing worth handing off, even before a full hire.
Watch for decisions piling up waiting on you specifically
A growing backlog of things 'waiting on approval' is a clear signal you've become a bottleneck, not just busy. This usually shows up before revenue growth actually stalls.
Calculate the real cost of your time on low-leverage work
If you're spending 10 hours a week on tasks a $25/hour hire could do, that's 10 hours a week not spent on the things only you can do, sales, strategy, product. The math usually justifies the hire sooner than it feels like it should.
That’s the whole thing.
Keep going
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Make it clear who can decide what, so people stop asking you for small approvals.
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