Stop asking "how" to solve a problem and start asking "who" is the right person to solve it. Shifting your mindset to hiring A+ players who can take ownership of outcomes is the key to unlocking the next level of growth and freeing up your own time.

Founders often believe they can hire one "integrator" (like a COO) to handle all operational details. This is a myth. True scaling requires hiring specific, talented functional leaders (e.g., Head of Sales, Head of Product) who can solve a single, major business constraint, not a generalist helper.

Resist hiring quickly after finding traction. Instead, 'hire painfully slowly' and assemble an initial 'MVP Crew' — a small, self-sufficient team with all skills needed to build, market, and sell the product end-to-end. This establishes a core DNA of speed and execution before scaling.

Scaling a team is not a linear process. Each time a company's number of employees doubles (e.g., from 5 to 10, then to 20), its operational structure, processes, and even strategy must be completely re-evaluated. This forces a difficult transition from generalized roles to specialized functions.

If hiring more people isn't increasing output, it's likely because you're adding 'ammunition' (individual contributors) without adding 'barrels' (the key people or projects that enable work). To scale effectively, you must increase the number of independent workstreams, not just the headcount within them.

Founders are "unicorns" with unique skill sets impossible to hire for in a single person. To scale and remove yourself as a bottleneck, break your responsibilities into their component parts (e.g., sales, marketing, product) and hire specialists for each, assembling a team that approximates your output, even at a lower margin.

The method you choose to scale (hiring, productizing, pricing) determines your company's core competency. Hiring makes you a recruiting firm; productizing makes you a marketing firm; raising prices makes you a branding firm. Choose based on the problems you want to solve long-term.

In a fast-moving environment, rigid job descriptions are a hindrance. Instead of hiring for a specific role, recruit versatile "athletes" with high general aptitude. A single great person can fluidly move between delivery, sales, and product leadership, making them far more valuable than a specialist.

An engineering background provides strong first-principles thinking for a CEO. However, to effectively scale a company, engineer founders must elevate their identity to become a specialist in all business functions—sales, policy, recruiting—not just product.