Startup founders face unique challenges as their companies grow, requiring a shift in leadership approach. This article explores key strategies for adapting leadership styles to support scaling businesses. Drawing from the experiences of successful entrepreneurs, it offers practical advice on evolving from a hands-on manager to a strategic leader.
- From Fixer to Enabler
- Evolving Leadership Through Startup Growth
- Building Systems for Sustainable Growth
- Empowering Teams as the Company Expands
- Shifting Focus to Strategic Guidance
- Adapting Leadership Style for Team Growth
- Transitioning from Doer to Coach
- Embracing Delegation for Company Expansion
- Tailoring Leadership to Team Needs
- Creating Systems That Work Without You
- Stepping Back to Move Forward
- Fostering Collaboration and Accountability
- Becoming an Amplifier Instead of Fixer
- Designing Systems for Autonomous Teams
- Implementing Structured Autonomy and Clear KPIs
- Defending Calendar and Formalizing Processes
From Fixer to Enabler
As the team grew, I shifted from being involved in every detail to creating frameworks that others could lead within. Early on, I was the fixer. Later, I had to become the enabler. I started focusing more on clarity: clear roles, clear goals, and clear feedback loops. The biggest change? Learning to trust. I stopped solving everything myself and started asking better questions to help others step up.
Bhavik Sarkhedi
Founder & Content Lead, Ohh My Brand
Evolving Leadership Through Startup Growth
As our startup scaled, my leadership style evolved to meet both the growing complexity of the organization and the shifting needs of the team. In the early stages, I led by example—staying hands-on with the code and deeply involved in day-to-day problem-solving. As a self-described “Chief Tinkering Officer,” I’ve always believed in remaining curious and close to the tech, continually experimenting with new tools, platforms, and trends—especially in cutting-edge areas like AI and automation. This helped me stay relevant and better support the team as a technical leader.
When I transitioned into a development manager role, I began focusing more on delegation, prioritization, and unblocking teams rather than directly owning deliverables. I refined my time management and communication strategies to ensure that engineers had clarity, autonomy, and the support they needed to execute effectively.
As the organization grew further and I took on broader responsibilities, my focus shifted toward strategic leadership. I became more intentional about aligning team objectives with company goals, building scalable processes, and investing in the growth of others. I embraced a servant leadership mindset—removing roadblocks became a core part of my role. In every one-on-one, I often ask, “How can I help you do your job better?” and genuinely create space to listen. My goal is always to empower, not micromanage. I started upleveling team members, mentoring them into greater ownership, and creating opportunities for them to lead—freeing me to focus on long-term planning and cross-functional impact. I also intentionally surround myself with people smarter than I am—not only to elevate team performance but also because I deeply value learning from those around me.
Throughout each phase, I’ve worked to balance strategic oversight with technical depth—never fully stepping away from the technology but rather adapting how I engage. Staying current with innovations like AI not only keeps my technical edge sharp but also ensures I can bring forward-looking insights into leadership conversations and product strategy.
Scaling a startup taught me that great leadership isn’t about doing everything yourself—it’s about creating an environment where others can thrive and become the best version of themselves, while you continue to grow alongside them.
Shishir Khedkar
Head of Engineering
Building Systems for Sustainable Growth
When I first launched my company, I was deeply involved in every aspect of operations – from client communications to campaign execution. As we scaled, I quickly learned that maintaining that level of control wasn’t just unsustainable; it was actually limiting our growth potential.
One of the most significant shifts I made was moving from a directive to a more empowering leadership style. Instead of personally reviewing every client proposal, I developed standardized processes and frameworks that allowed team members to make confident decisions independently. For instance, we created a comprehensive playbook for our link-building campaigns that enabled team members to maintain quality while scaling operations.
Delegation was initially challenging – I’ll admit I was the classic “perfectionist founder.” But I learned to focus on outcomes rather than methods. A practical example: I used to personally handle all client strategy calls. Now, I’ve trained team leads who often deliver better results because they’re closer to day-to-day operations.
Communication required a complete overhaul as we grew. We moved from informal daily check-ins to structured weekly team meetings and implemented project management tools to maintain transparency across our now-global team. One specific change that made a huge impact was introducing a “weekly wins” session where team members share successes and learnings.
Perhaps the most crucial adaptation was shifting my role from “best executor” to “best enabler.” Instead of being the go-to person for solving problems, I focused on building systems and developing team members’ problem-solving capabilities. This meant investing heavily in training programs and creating clear career development paths.
I’m happy to share more specific examples of our leadership evolution or discuss how we tackled particular scaling challenges.
Maurizio Petrone
Founder & CEO, PressHERO
Empowering Teams as the Company Expands
When we first launched, we were a team of three: scrappy, fast, and I was involved in every deliverable, decision, and client moment. At that stage, speed came from proximity.
As we grew to a full-time team of 7, not counting our larger extended roster of facilitators and collaborators, and as my schedule filled with coaching, travel, and speaking engagements, that pace became unsustainable. Some months came dangerously close to burnout. Something had to shift.
I had to shift from being the engine to building the engine.
I even say this to my team: we need to work on the business, not just in it.
The first major change was decision-making. I stopped making myself the center of every decision. We built out OKRs that gave every team member visibility into our priorities and the freedom to make decisions within them. That gave us speed without the chaos. People stopped waiting for permission. They started owning outcomes. We started using a one-way vs. two-way door decision framework: if it’s reversible, run with it. If it’s not, we pause and align.
Next came communication. In a tiny team, you rely on energy and osmosis. But when half your work happens while you’re 35,000 feet in the air, that breaks. So we built a rhythm of asynchronous check-ins: department standups, Slack updates, and reporting systems that keep me in the loop and the team moving.
We’re also expanding our facilitator roster proactively and intentionally. In our work, hiring isn’t plug-and-play. Teaching the Unicorn Leadership philosophies takes time, care, and immersion. It’s not a process we want to rush. But we’re building for scale now, so when we need support, we’ve already laid the foundation.
And maybe the hardest shift: letting go of being the expert. At the start, I felt like I had to have all the answers. Now, my job is to create conditions where the best answers can come from anyone. That’s where real leadership culture starts to take root.
We’ve also built a lightweight, constant, and embedded culture of feedback. We believe in quick pulses of insight: iterate, test, adjust. It’s how we teach and how we work. Scaling, for us, doesn’t just mean adding people. It means adding maturity. And that maturity looks like:
Clarity over control.
Ownership over oversight.
Coaching over doing.
We’re still learning. Still building. But every step we take is guided by the same belief: If we want to scale impact, we have to scale how we lead, not just who we hire.
Fahd Alhattab
Founder & Leadership Development Speaker, Unicorn Labs
Shifting Focus to Strategic Guidance
As the startup scaled, adapting leadership meant shifting from hands-on involvement in every decision to empowering others with trust and clarity. Early on, decisions were made quickly in tight-knit settings, but as the team grew, the need for structure, delegation, and clear communication became essential. One of the biggest changes was building a strong middle management layer—leaders who could carry the vision forward while bringing their own expertise to the table.
I also learned to embrace transparency and over-communicate goals and priorities. Regular town halls, clear OKRs, and cross-team collaboration rituals helped maintain alignment without micromanaging. Most importantly, I began spending more time coaching leaders, shaping culture intentionally, and making sure systems scaled as fast as the people. The evolution wasn’t just about managing more people—it was about learning to lead through others and making space for them to thrive.
Anupa Rongala
CEO, Invensis Technologies
Adapting Leadership Style for Team Growth
As my startup scaled, I realized that my leadership style had to evolve from being hands-on with everything to focusing more on strategic guidance and empowering my team. Early on, I was involved in every detail of the business—managing clients, creating content, and overseeing operations. However, as the team expanded, I had to adjust my approach to ensure we were all aligned with the company’s vision while still allowing team members to take ownership of their roles.
One of the first changes I made was to delegate more effectively. Instead of trying to do everything myself, I learned to trust my team and give them the autonomy to take charge of their respective areas. This shift was crucial in maintaining quality and efficiency, allowing me to focus on growth.
I also began to develop clearer communication channels and set expectations around goals and deliverables. It became crucial to have systems in place for consistent communication, feedback, and accountability. I adopted project management tools and set up regular check-ins.
The biggest lesson was realizing that leadership isn’t about control—it’s about guiding the team toward success and enabling them to reach their full potential.
Tayelor Kennedy
Wellness Expert & Entrepreneur, Tayelor Kennedy
Transitioning from Doer to Coach
My leadership style had to change as our startup began to expand. I soon realized that the leadership approach that had been proving beneficial to me no longer fit the developing needs of a larger group. Initially, I was very involved throughout the decision-making process, the execution of tasks, and the delivery of most projects. However, as the team grew larger, it became clear that I simply could not perform all the work myself, and I had to learn how to trust other people.
One of the initial steps I took was delegation. I began to delegate more authority to divisional heads and other reliable members of the company staff instead of keeping everything under my control. This helped me to think long-term and strategically, and also allowed others to take ownership of their fields.
I was also required to devote more attention to communication. As the staff increased, care had to be taken to ensure everyone was oriented with the objectives of the firm, and no one felt isolated. Our check-ins became more frequent, and the flow of communication between the management and the rest of the team was open, as everybody felt informed and heard.
Another major change was the adoption of a more collaborative leadership style. During the initial stages, I used to make independent decisions. Once the number of people in the team increased, I focused on involving key participants in decision-making, whether it was related to strategy or operations. This not only helped in accessing various perspectives but also promoted a sense of involvement and appreciation within the team.
Finally, I needed to adapt my leadership style to facilitate growth. This meant taking a few steps back, allowing my team to do more, and thinking on a larger scale. While it wasn’t always easy, it played a vital role in enabling our growth while maintaining our culture.
Alex Saiko
CEO & Co-Founder, MiraSpaces
Embracing Delegation for Company Expansion
When we started, it was just a tight-knit team of three, sitting in one room and discussing everything over coffee. Back then, leadership meant doing things myself and expecting others to learn by observing. As we grew, I quickly realized that this approach doesn’t scale.
The biggest shift I made was moving from being a doer to being a coach. I stopped obsessing over every detail and started focusing on building processes that others could own. For example, instead of reviewing every design personally, I created creative guidelines and review systems that empowered the team to make decisions confidently. I still step in when needed, but I no longer act as the bottleneck.
I also made it a point to schedule one-on-one check-ins with team members, not just for project updates but to understand how they were feeling, what was working for them, and what wasn’t. It’s helped build trust and transparency.
As a founder, you naturally want to stay hands-on. But the real growth came when I learned to step back, trust the team, and support them with clarity, not control.
Burhanuddin Qutbi
Co-Founder at Saifee Creations, Saifee Creations
Tailoring Leadership to Team Needs
I have adopted more of a delegative-style leadership approach as my company has scaled. We experienced rapid success, which led to quick scaling as well. It didn’t take long after we first began to scale for me to realize that I couldn’t always maintain a hands-on approach. Consequently, I had to learn how to delegate effectively so that I wasn’t the sole leader of my company. We needed many leaders, and that strategy has been great for us and has helped us scale even further.
Edward Tian
CEO, GPTZero
Creating Systems That Work Without You
As my company scaled, I realized that the best way for me to lead would be by being the leader that my team members uniquely needed. Basically, instead of only utilizing the leadership style that came most naturally to me, I asked myself: what leadership style would my specific team actually benefit from the most? I started learning what people responded to best and even asked direct questions about how I could be the best leader for them. Over time, that’s helped me shape my leadership style.
Seamus Nally
CEO, TurboTenant
Stepping Back to Move Forward
In the early days, every decision went through me. However, as we scaled toward 50 people, that bottleneck turned from helpful to harmful. So I shifted from being the expert to building systems that work without me.
First, I moved to role-based leadership instead of task-based management. I split my days: mornings for CTO-level tech work and afternoons for strategy. This gave my team predictable access without sacrificing creative focus.
Then we swapped ad-hoc chats for structured frameworks by implementing EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System). As a result, teams had the tools to make smart calls on their own.
The biggest challenge was developing other leaders. I invested significant time mentoring team leads to fully own their domains. Today, multiple people make important decisions without needing me in the loop.
Yes, letting go of control, especially in a bootstrapped company, was tough. But the payoff is a resilient organization that doesn’t hinge on any one person.
Alexander De Ridder
Co-Founder & CTO, SmythOS(dot)com
Fostering Collaboration and Accountability
At the very beginning of our journey, I was involved in all the details, participated in all discussions and meetings, followed progress in the task tracker, and helped find solutions to all emerging issues. And it seemed obvious.
However, as the team grew, I realized something unexpected – because of my engagement and my attempt to keep everything under control, I became a bottleneck, someone who slows down processes and overall results.
That’s when I took a step back. I stopped trying to lead every move and focused on setting direction instead: clear goals, context, and enough room for people to navigate things their way. I’m still here, of course – to discuss, adjust, and answer questions. But we no longer walk hand in hand. We agree on where we’re going next, and I let the team take it from there. And if we ever need to shift, we do it together – with context, not blame.
It’s made a real difference. There’s more confidence, more initiative. And I’ve learned that good leadership often means knowing when to step aside and let others move forward.
Konstantin Yalovik
CEO, launchOptions
Becoming an Amplifier Instead of Fixer
As our team grew, I realized I needed to focus less on micromanaging and more on setting a clear vision. I adapted my leadership style by adopting a more collaborative approach, regularly seeking input from different departments and ensuring that everyone felt heard. This created a stronger sense of ownership and accountability across the company.
Additionally, I worked on developing leadership skills within my team, giving them the tools they needed to manage their teams effectively. This shift made scaling easier and allowed us to navigate growth without sacrificing our company culture.
C. Lee Smith
Founder and CEO, SalesFuel
Designing Systems for Autonomous Teams
I had to stop being the fixer and start being the amplifier. Early on, I was involved in every decision and every project. However, as our team grew, that approach became a bottleneck.
I shifted from control to clarity, implementing fewer approvals and more frameworks. 50% of startups fail by year five, often because founders don’t evolve their leadership. I learned the hard way that scaling a team means scaling trust.
We implemented clear metrics, autonomous pods, and weekly outcome reviews instead of micromanagement. The result is faster execution, fewer bottlenecks, and a team that actually owns their wins.
The insight here is simple: if your team still needs you to function at 20+ people, you didn’t scale, you just multiplied.
Shamil Shamilov
CEO, dNOVO Group
Implementing Structured Autonomy and Clear KPIs
As we scaled, I realized that leadership isn’t about directing traffic—it’s about designing systems where people don’t need constant directions at all. Early on, I was deeply involved in every pitch, model, and research assessment. But as the team grew, that became the bottleneck.
So I shifted from “founder as expert” to “founder as architect.” We built internal playbooks, decision trees powered by our AI tools, and structured autonomy into each stream—product, science, operations. I also learned to over-communicate the why, not the how.
The real turning point? When I stopped answering every question and started asking: ‘How would you solve it?’ That single shift multiplied our speed and created a culture of ownership. Managing a larger team isn’t about scaling yourself—it’s about scaling clarity.
Igor Trunov
CEO, Atlantix
Defending Calendar and Formalizing Processes
At my previous startup, scaling meant adapting my leadership in three key ways, which I plan to follow at my newest startup, LoopBot.ai:
1. Calendar Defense: I started blocking out non-negotiable time for my own work to avoid days lost to meetings.
I began reserving chunks of my calendar where absolutely no one could book a meeting. I discovered that without this practice, the day would vanish into endless discussions and planning. I’d reach the end of the day and realize I hadn’t addressed my own crucial tasks like emails, outreach, and follow-ups. This protected time became essential for me to actually accomplish my own work amidst the scaling chaos.
2. Formalized KPIs: We shifted to an Amazon-style framework, focusing on controllable input metrics (like articles published) in a weekly cadence, not just outcomes.
We significantly improved our KPI structure and established a weekly rhythm. Taking a page from Amazon’s book, we focused intently on controllable input metrics. Instead of merely monitoring revenue (which is dependent on the customer), we concentrated on factors we could directly influence, such as the number of articles we published or the amount of outreach we conducted. This shift clearly indicated to every team what actions they could take to make an impact.
3. Formalized Autonomy: We empowered teams to make decisions independently, defining areas where consultation wasn’t always needed. This was a challenging but vital step for agility as we grew.
Lastly, we had to seriously address autonomy. When we were a small startup, every significant decision involved everyone huddling up. That approach became impractical as we scaled. Consequently, we clearly defined areas where teams and individuals could make decisions independently, without needing to consult with everyone else first. This was a substantial, sometimes difficult change because it felt like people were “losing control.” However, it was absolutely necessary to maintain our agility and rapid pace as we expanded.
Ultimately, we scaled up following our Series A, and then I sold the business to Michelin. So, something worked!
Ben Schmidt
Founder & CEO, LoopBot(dot)ai