Startups wear agility on their sleeves. They pride themselves on navigating by the seat of their pants.
Improvising in the face of the unexpected, is great. It allows to deal with the unplanned.
But one of the primary goals for a startup is to be a learning organization, one that figures out the route to success, and learning implies retaining the knowledge gained.
It is the only way, not only to avoid repeating the same mistakes over and over, but to build on the learnings.
And while founders are indispensable in shaping the early years of a startup and to motor through the armies of naysayers, they must strive every day to become more expendable, to get out of their business.
By doing so, value is retained in the business, and not the individual.
This is one reason why startups do have to create processes on their way to becoming a consolidated business.
It is implied in the exit strategy of most startups, and I find it quite strange how many don’t get it.