It has been a while since I’ve written, I guess I didn’t have much to write about. Ok, I admit it, I had a shit load of stuff to write about, however, I simply never got around to actually do it. A full time job, two babies – or as they call it – real life, has somewhat managed to creep up to me and take its toll on my writing time. Over the course of the past few months, I’ve been heavily thinking about the role of the founder in a startup. Many people regard the founder of a startup as the CEO or some other key role in the company, but it’s not always like that. The question that I asked myself, and I have been for quite some time, is: “as a founder of a startup, what is the most important thing I need to know?” – I recently realized that the most important thing, is also the hardest thing to do.

As I see it now, the most important thing a founder needs to know how to do is: “When to walk away!” – Yes, you heard me right, understanding that you as a founder have to walk away from your creation is the hardest thing you’ll ever do. In many cases, walking away may seem to you like bailing out or giving up, but this is not the case. Sometimes, walking away means: “I’m entrusting my creation with someone else, simply because I can’t progress it any more”. It is very easy to become infatuated with your startup, it’s just like a baby. Initially, it’s just an idea, then after a long incubation time, suddenly it takes form. You hire people, slowly afterwards, you have a proof of concept, then you start selling, then different things can happen – some good, some bad. At that point in time, that’s a critical path, this is the time where you might find yourself at an impasse with your partners, investors, customers, VC’s, etc. What should you do? stay and fight? or just pack up and leave? – well, it all depends on your situation. I won’t detail the situation when you need to fight and stand your ground, as those are fairly easy. The harder ones relate to when to leave.

I would say, that if any of the following are upon you, it’s time to leave:

• Your investors are pushing toward an illogical track, although, they have no idea how the market nor the niche works.
• You ran into financial issues and leaving is a logical step in order to continue the life of the company.
• You are at an impasse with the CEO or other members of management, the issue can’t be bridged.
• You have lost trust with your partners.

At any of those, you must pack up and leave. The reasons are simple enough, all of those relate to direct trust between people. When trust is no longer there, it’s better to pack it up and move forward, simply because it won’t go to good places.