After many years in the startup scene and having guided over 100 founders, I’ve consistently observed the same thing: the transition from startup to scale-up is the most critical phase in a company’s life. And at the same time, it’s a phase where most founders are left to their own devices. The biggest challenge? The personal transformation of the founders themselves.
The blind spot of founders
“My company is growing – but I’m not growing with it.” I hear this sentence often from founders who realize something isn’t right. They sense that they themselves have become the bottleneck. Their previous success recipes no longer work.
What many don’t see: the professionalization of a startup doesn’t begin with processes and structures. It begins with the personal development of the founders. The transition from doer to leader, from founder to CEO, is the most critical step.
The most common pitfalls in the scale-up process
In my daily work with founders, I repeatedly observe the following typical behavioral patterns that complicate the professionalization process:
Particularly striking is the tendency to bring experienced managers on board as saviors. They’re supposed to introduce the desired structures that founders struggle with. Unfortunately, they often create structures and processes that work in larger companies but are completely overdimensioned in startups and frustrate everyone. The solution: no copy and paste, but rather use their experience as input to jointly develop appropriate structures.
Another common pattern is a lack of self-reflection. Many founders fundamentally underestimate how much their own role must change as the company grows. Instead of actively engaging with their development from operational doer to mature leader, they cling to familiar tasks and responsibilities. They overlook the fact that true leadership requires a completely different approach.
Particularly paradoxical is the approach to company culture: afraid of losing the original startup DNA, necessary changes are postponed. Yet this avoidance often leads to exactly the loss of culture – when the pressure for change becomes so great that hasty adjustments must be made. A gradual, values-oriented evolution of culture would be the better approach.
The 5 success factors of professionalization
Based on my years of working with startups, I’ve identified five key success factors that determine success or failure in the growth phase:
1. Institutionalization as foundation
The hardest step for many founders: you need to make yourself “redundant”. This means translating implicit knowledge into explicit structures. Important: less is more. Define your non-negotiable minimum standards, but don’t create bureaucratic monsters. My tip: start with a clear division of roles in your leadership team – first define responsibilities, then find the right people.
2. Create vision and goal clarity
“We need a vision!” This call from the team is an alarm signal. In the growth phase, you need more than just a vague idea of the future. Develop a tangible mission and vision that excites your mainstream customers too. Translate this into concrete OKRs or other goal-setting systems. Your team needs this orientation.
3. Develop real leadership
The transition from “leader of doers” to “leader of leaders” is the most critical step. Systematically develop your internal talent into leadership positions. When you bring in external managers, prioritize cultural fit over hard skills. My experience shows: many corporate managers fail not on technical competence but on startup-phase dynamics.
4. Actively shape growth culture
As CEO, you are the “chief of culture”. Regularly review: which cultural elements support our growth? What’s holding us back? Particularly important: your values must be reflected in the new structures. Culture is not a nice-to-have; it’s your most important leadership tool.
5. Communication as key
In the growth phase, you can no longer speak with everyone personally. You need to find new ways to convey your messages. My advice: communicate too much rather than too little. Use various formats and ensure that everyone in the company truly understands the journey.
Everything new: the future of startup professionalization
Yes, professionalization has a lot to do with the right structures and processes. You need to move away from the creative ad hoc of the early startup phase toward replicable processes and structures. But that’s far from everything. Even the best processes have their limits. And then it comes down to trust and collaboration in the team. This applies – or especially applies – to large companies too: leadership is relationship work. Deep trust is the glue that motivates, drives, and ultimately enables new work, hybrid work models, and Generation Z to succeed.
Forward-thinking founders build trust deliberately, step by step. They start by delegating small tasks, engage in intensive dialogue about progress and results, and in doing so learn to let go increasingly. Forget the sink-or-swim approach. It might work out occasionally, but usually it leads to disaster.
Your emotional intelligence is what matters. In hybrid work models, the ability to understand and lead people from a distance becomes the key competency. This requires a high degree of empathy and emotional understanding.
Add to this the growing importance of systems thinking in an increasingly complex world. Successful CEOs must be able to recognize connections and design systems rather than just solve individual problems.
Timeless principles for sustainable growth
Let me be clear upfront: there is no universal path to professionalization. Every startup must find its own way. But what does exist are timeless principles that significantly influence the success of the transformation. Authenticity is key. Rather than blindly copying the supposed best practices of big tech companies, startups should develop their own solutions that fit their DNA. An authentic, even if imperfect approach, will be better received by the team than a perfect but imposed system.
The pace of change also plays a decisive role. Radical restructuring overwhelms both the organization and the people within it. More successful is an evolutionary approach with continuous, smaller adjustments. When teams have time to adapt to change, more sustainable structures emerge.
The importance of psychological safety is particularly underestimated. True growth – both personal and organizational – requires an environment where people don’t fear making mistakes. A culture that enables open feedback and learns from mistakes is the foundation for successful transformation.
A personal word to close
As a former C-level manager, I know both sides: the challenges of growth and the pain of failure. The path from founder to CEO is one of the greatest personal challenges imaginable. It demands courage, humility, and the willingness to reinvent yourself again and again.
My appeal to all founders in the growth phase: take time for your personal development. Find sparring partners. Reflect regularly. The professionalization of your startup is not a sprint, but a marathon. But with the right mindset and support, you can not only master this phase but emerge from it strengthened. Because one thing is certain: only those who grow themselves can enable sustainable company growth.