The first thing to learn when a startup turns CEO

How to adapt from the founder to CEO role change, which is all entrepreneurs, including Zuckerberg , all need to consider the problem.

The most difficult thing for first-time entrepreneurs and "new to the CEO" is what role they should play in the company's growth.

And all the CEOs, whether they are the founders or not, will all have their own focus. And this may be sales, engineering, product, marketing or finance. This should be the area where they feel best, the area they are engaged in in their careers, or their most far-sighted area.

And in the early days of the company, CEOs who started as founders often worked on jobs that needed "other skills." However, the power of inertia is actually very large, maybe you will always work according to their own habits. If you used to be a programmer, then you are likely to continue programming. And if you've been a product manager then you're likely to continue focusing on the product.

Founder CEO often make a mistake, this is from the perspective of their own habits to develop the company, but did not realize that this will have an impact on the entire company. For example, if a founders CEO is a good product manager, the CEO will still be involved in product management when the company adds some new engineers. As the business grew, the CEO realized he needed to increase "depth of the bench," hiring senior experts such as business development executives. He will then want to recruit marketing executives and sales executives.

However, the CEO will not surrender the field that he is good at until finally. Founder CEO to do so for the following reasons:

- They are very picky. They know what they want and do not believe others can do it.

- It's hard to convince them to spend their money on something they can already do.

- Founder CEO often overlooks the opportunity cost of his continued role as product manager.

- Founders CEO Hard to realize that a full-time product manager may develop a better product than herself.

- They worry that they may not be able to bring any value to the company if they surrender their areas of expertise.

But in fact, as a founders CEO, you will not be able to serve your company better if you do not hand over areas you are good at. This is due to two reasons.

First, as founder CEO, you are one of the few people who can grasp the entire business and understand all aspects of the company. You know the company's founding process, the initial goals, the mistakes made in the early stages, the future of the product, the potential customer base, how the product is sold, and what kind of response the product will receive. In short, no one knows more about the business than you do. This means that you are unique and irreplaceable. This is your most important added value.

Second, because you grasp the whole company's development, it takes time to think. You need to think about the direction of your business, take time to read, take time to reach customers, and take the time to explore new opportunities. Time itself has great value. For the CEO, having plenty of time and time spent looking at the company's future is something that should be done.

If you do this, then you will see the following benefits:

- Hold new important opportunities earlier. With plenty of time, you can combine new information from markets, books, and people to discover new opportunities sooner than others.

- Think about the company's long-term prospects, which is usually two to three years later. A single skill can not bring such a skill.

- Think about the dangers your company will face.

- Think of your "business," not just products. Some product-originating CEOs tend to confuse the two.

- Think if you have the right person in the right place.

Therefore, all founders CEO should ask themselves the question: how do I liberate 50% of the time. This usually includes: willing to release time, realize that release time is a process of creating value for the business, and recruiting successors in areas where you are good at it.

This article is compiled from TechCrunch.