Reducing the Dependence on the Founder

Most business owners and founders often spend several decades building their establishments from the ground up. They devote nearly every single minute to their businesses by doing the following:

• Perfecting processes
• Building impressive customer relationships
• Recruiting, training, and re-training employees
• Developing culture
• Finding additional ways to boost revenue.

In other words, no other person knows the company or business as much as they do. Are you in this category? If you are, you need to know that your organization’s dependence on you can be detrimental to its growth.

How is this so, you ask? This is what you are about to find out in the next few paragraphs.

Why You Should Not Build a Business That is Too Reliant On You

Many business owners/founders fall into the trap of building businesses or companies that are somewhat too reliant on their ideas, vision, and dedication to succeed. If you make all the daily decisions in the day-to-day running of your business, it can become challenging for you to exit or step aside for the optimal value.

When any business relies too heavily or solely on its founder’s guidance, it constitutes a significant risk. Potential buyers of your business don’t like risk and will do their best to minimize it. Therefore, they will start asking questions like:

• Will this business or company continue growing without your influence as the founder?
• Who manages the profound relationships with key customers or clients? Is it the founder/business owner?
• Is the success of the business overly dependent on the personality of the owner?

These and many more questions will pop up in the minds of potential buyers of your business. And it could significantly impact the overall value of your organization or establishment.

How to Reduce the Dependence of Your Organization On the Founder

If you feel your organization is presently suffering from a severe or significant case of owner dependence, you need to do something about it. Adopt systems and processes in order to reduce the reliance on the organization’s founder. According to entrepreneur and business coach Ron Carroll, “Systems are the essential building blocks of every successful business.”

Here are some helpful ways to minimize dependence on founders:

• Delegate

Hiring the right people is not enough. Empower them to make decisions and act on them. Don’t fall into the dangerous trap of believing you are the only one who knows how to run your organization.

If you intend to sell your business later, you need to learn how to delegate tasks. This helps your organization grow, and potential buyers will be reassured that it will continue to grow even without you.

• Hire The Right People

Yes, it is vital to hire the right people so that you can delegate with peace of mind. Always hire people that are smarter than you and induct them as your management team.

Ensure that they are as passionate about your business and industry as you are. Make them understand the nitty-gritty of your business and how it works. This demonstrates its potential to grow and flourish to potential buyers.

• Hype Your Management Team

Do you have a perfect management team? Don’t be silent about it: let the world know.

When you let the world know how capable and efficient your management team is, it shows potential buyers that your business can run without you controlling the affairs 100 percent.

Moreover, praising your management team takes attention from you or the significant role you play every day.

• Build Your Business with Exit in Mind

Remember what Elon Musk did with PayPal and many other businesses before he started his Tesla empire? Yes, he built many of those businesses with an exit in mind.

You may not exit your business tomorrow or even in the next 10 years. But you will eventually do so, sooner or later. Therefore, start preparing for it now. Believe it or not; human assets will help to boost your organization’s valuation.

And they will also help put additional processes and systems in place to further minimize the organization’s dependence on you, the founder.

Conclusion

It is never too early to ready your business for sale. Even if you are a startup, you shouldn’t operate your business haphazardly or without systems and processes.

Adopt some of the tips shared in this article, continue to optimize your processes and systems. This puts you further along the road or path to reaching your business objectives. And you can step aside or even retire or sell the business, so it continues to run successfully without you at the helm.

[Janneh Wright CEO](https://www.linkedin.com/in/janneh-wright-mba-5b63278/), [PRIMUS Business Management](https://primusco.com/)