Expert partnerships
What exited founders know that decks do not
Why an operator who has already sold a business changes your odds more than another cheque, and how to use one properly.
6 min read
There is a category of knowledge that never makes it into a template: what the second year actually feels like, and which of your current problems are real.
Triage is the skill
Founders drown in problems that all feel urgent. Someone who has run the same gauntlet can tell you within an hour which three matter this quarter and which nine are noise you should ignore until you are twice the size.
That single act of triage is usually worth more than the money, because attention, not capital, is the scarce resource in a company under thirty people.
How to use an operator well
Give them real access: the numbers, the board pack, the thing you are embarrassed about. Advisors kept at arm's length produce arm's-length advice.
Set a narrow remit and a cadence. Fortnightly, with a written agenda you own, beats an open invitation to call any time, which almost always decays into nothing.
Take these away
- —Attention is scarcer than capital; buy triage first.
- —Narrow remit plus fixed cadence beats open-ended advisory.
- —Give the operator the uncomfortable numbers or do not bother.
Theory is cheap. Preparation is not.
Two minutes on the readiness check will tell you which of these you actually need to act on first.