Avoid founder dependency and stay close to customers

Who this is for

Founder led lower-middle market companies with 5 to 50 million in annual revenue where the founder wants resilience without losing customer insight.

The quick answer

Write decision rights and set clear owners for revenue, delivery, and cash. Join a few key customer calls each month and read a short customer summary each week. Ask for bad news fast. Teach the thinking behind decisions so managers can act without you.

The method in seven steps

Publish decision rights
List who decides pricing exceptions, contract terms, staffing, and spend. Include dollar thresholds.
Name accountable owners
Assign revenue, delivery, and cash to leaders with clear outcomes and weekly scores.
Set the customer rhythm
Join a small number of high value customer calls each month. Rotate which accounts you see so insight is broad.
Read the weekly customer summary
A one page note with churn risk, expansion opportunities, top issues, and a quote from the field.
Ask for bad news first
Open leadership meetings with risks and blockers. Reward fast reporting and clear actions.
Teach your thinking
After tough calls, explain how you weighed options so managers can use the same patterns.
Test resilience
Spend one week out of the day to day. Watch the scorecard. If service or cash dip, find the weak handoffs and fix them.

Example

A founder published decision rights and assigned cash ownership to the controller with a weekly target. They joined two customer reviews a month and read a weekly summary. Managers escalated early and outcomes held when the founder travelled.

Pitfalls and fixes

Unclear ownership. Write names next to outcomes.
Customer time that turns into escalation time. Pick proactive calls.
No teaching. Share the logic behind decisions.

Checklist

Decision rights with thresholds
Owners for revenue, delivery, cash
Monthly founder customer calls
Weekly customer summary
Resilience test plan