
Ask HN: I'm a founder who wants to take back some control - CTOYo
I founded a tech business around 10 years ago. A few years ago, I took a bit of a step back and installed a managing director while I took a &#x27;head of technical&#x27; title.<p>Things have been going very well and the MD is great, but I feel I need to take back a bit more control in order to take the business to the next level.<p>In terms of how I can achieve this as painlessly as possible, any and all advice, anecdotes or input would be greatly appreciated.
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mswen
No Advice but a few diagnostic questions:

What is not happening that "should" be happening?

What is happening that "should not" be happening?

What is the specific source of your discontent?

How do you reconcile that with your assessment that things are going very well
and the MD is great?

How can you shield the really great of today from potential down-side risk
while disrupting the status quo in an effort to take the business to the next
level?

Are you getting bored?

Would it be feasible to take yourself completely out of this business (absent
owner or sell) and then start another business?

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brudgers
Have you talked with the managing director about your ambitions? Maybe giving
the managing director more latitude is all that's needed to grow the
business...ethical people are often more reluctant to risk someone else's
money.

What are the potential downsides of disrupting the current operational
context? Framing the option as "taking" suggests that someone gets taken from
and that is likely to have effect on moral and workplace culture.

It might be better to simply expand your responsibilities in ways that are
orthogonal to the existing working operations, such as adding a new line of
business while leaving the existing lines running as they are. Then there's no
taking and any pain occurs in the new structure rather than the old one.

Good luck.

