Hey fellow founders: maybe we don’t need to juggle 15 roles at once. Maybe we can wear them one at a time.
I’m a generalist. Always have been.
I can write a launch email, lead a meeting, code and style a user interface, and host a livestream, all in a day.
That’s not bragging. It’s just what’s required when you’re running a small team.
No deep org chart. No neat job titles. No one else to toss the work to.
But lately, I’ve been thinking about what happens when you stop trying to do it all at once.
What if, even as a generalist, you gave yourself permission to work like a specialist for a month or quarter?
You wouldn’t stop wearing the other hats.
You would put them down for a while and wear one on purpose.
My hypothesis is:
- You go deeper.
- You build better.
- You finally write the SOP.
- You finally ship the feature.
- You make progress that sticks.
That’s how real momentum happens in a small team, not by sprinting across everything, but by sitting inside something long enough to shape it.
And only then can you hand it off to someone else to own. One less hat.
Context switching feels productive. Being needed everywhere can feel flattering. But it’s a trap.
And it may be hurting your team, too.
Being seen as the ‘only one’ that can do the thing means your team never exercises that muscle.
Let me know what one thing you’d go into a hole and focus on if you had permission to do it.
