Do More Faster India, 2nd Edition

Chapter 80Don’t Make Yourself Indispensable

David Cohen

David is the cofounder and Managing Partner of Techstars.

When you’re first starting a company, you’re right there in the thick of it, all the time. During that heavy lifting phase, you naturally have to throw yourself into getting your startup off the ground and figuring things out.

But it can’t go on like that forever. Obviously, your own personal health would take a hit, but it’s also a sign of poor health for your company if it relies on your presence in order to exist.

So, once you’re a little further along—after you have things figured out and have a good market fit—as the CEO, you need to start thinking about working on the business instead of in the business. If you’ve done a good job working on your business, you should be able to go away for a month or two and still have your business run just fine without you there.

Now, that doesn’t mean you should run away to Cuba for six weeks right off the bat. But it does mean that you should start out by testing the waters by staying out of the office for a couple of days. Next, actually leave town for a few days—even if you don’t want to, and even if you have important things scheduled. After all, it’s not a true test of your “indispensableness” if you’re only gone during slow times. During these test periods, remain accessible and see what happens. What do people send you emergency texts about? Did it turn out that there are some things only you know how to do? Was there ...