It all starts from the Confusion about different roles the founder is forced to play in the beginning of the company’s life cycle and the inability to take proactive, conscious decisions about them. These different roles may be: investor, ‘father-of-project’, CEO, investor pitcher, expert employee (ex. Developer), Comrade with other co/founders etc.
What the founder needs to do the soonest possible is to ask herself the following questions :
1. What are the main roles I am forced to play ?
2. What are their relative importance to the business now ? In 1 year ? In 3 years ?
3. In which circumstances are these roles cooperating with each other ? Where might they produce conflict ?
4. How do I feel In each role ? How does this influence my performance ?
5. In which role am I naturally good at ? In which do I need to develop myself (In which areas?)
6. What is my own internal process through which I may instantly become aware of the role I am playing in any given time ?
7. How do I use the above realizations to optimize the way I operate ? How do I use them to decide which role I will eventually need to give priority to ? By When ?
