When building an agency, a startup, or any business, one of the most potent assets in the early days—and often well beyond—is the founder’s unique combination of passion and subject matter expertise. These are the founders’ superpowers. But like any superpower, they can accelerate growth and unintentionally create friction.
This epiphany lesson is about how I recognized the value of those strengths… and how my team leveraged them for good, and when to temper them depending on the situation.
Founders Are Fueled by Passion
“That “founders passion” is the inate drive that only the founder or the founding team possess.
Founders start companies because they believe in something deeply. They’ve seen a better way to solve problems or witnessed their approach’s impact firsthand. Whether it’s a landscaper taking pride in his striped lawn or a technologist rethinking SEO infrastructure, that intrinsic drive is contagious—and powerful.
Actionable Insight:
Use the founder’s passion to lead the story. Let it shine in pitches, content, or culture-building moments. It’s often what gets the meeting or seals the deal.
Expertise Is the Anchor
“To really have the spine to go out and do this—make a living from it—you need some kind of deep expertise.”
Passion alone doesn’t cut it. Most great founders also bring something more—real subject matter mastery. Whether technical, strategic, or visionary, that knowledge gives the idea staying power. It also turns demos into moments of inspiration and builds credibility with clients.
Actionable Insight:
Let the founder anchor the company’s positioning around their expertise—but translate it into scalable frameworks others can use and understand.
The Founder Is a Sales Weapon… to a Point
“People like to meet the founder. Especially big companies. It helps them say yes. But it can also kill the deal.”
Founders are compelling in sales conversations. They tell the origin story with authenticity, and their beliefs are persuasive. But they can also be too honest, too product-focused, and too focused on the glitch in the demo rather than selling the vision. There are many times during a demo that I pause and offer a gentle sigh when I see something not working correctly or an output. The salesperson in you wants it to go unnoticed, but the founder-perfectionist often cannot let it go.
In some cases, transparency and brainpower become friction points—especially when a founder’s instinct is to “fix the problem” or “convince non-believers” mid-meeting rather than help close the deal.
Actionable Insight:
Use the founder for credibility and energy early in the pitch. But rehearse clear handoffs to the sales team. Let closers close.
Be Visible, But Not a Bottleneck or Undermine the Team
“It’s really painful as a founder to see someone get stuck when you know the answer in a heartbeat… but you’ve got to let them plod through it.”
One of the biggest challenges for founders (guilty as charged) is watching their team grow—sometimes clumsily. Jumping in to save the day may solve the short-term problem, but it undermines the team’s confidence and the client’s trust in your bench strength.
We had this issue during a pitch once where the presenter froze mid-conversation as he was not sure of his answer and was having a mini panic attack, he left the meeting to collect himself. Another team member jumped in but was not as fluent in that process and was stumbling, resulting in the client asking a very pointed question. I thought I had no choice but to answer it. I did, which resulted in the question, “how much of your time will we get?” It was one of my favorite answers that I heard an account director give – As little as possible and as much as you will pay for.
When a founder dominates every pitch or client conversation, the client expects them to be around all the time, which doesn’t scale and does not show how brilliant your team is. At the same time, that passion and founder magic shouldn’t be locked away—but neither should it become a bottleneck that limits team growth or causes burnout. Let the founder lead innovation, strategy, and vision—but don’t let them be the answer to every question or the solver of every problem. We tried to limit my talk time to the intro and meet-and-greet of the solution and quickly pass it off to the most junior person on the team. This helped demonstrate our bench strength.
Actionable Insight:
Build a culture of mentorship and shadowing. Use client pitches as a growth tool for junior team members, not just as sales events.
Build systems where the founder’s insights are shared—documentation, team training, scalable frameworks—so they don’t have to be in every room.
Final Thought: Infect the Organization
“Ensure that the founder’s passion and experience are infectious. That everyone gains it, owns it, and uses it.”
This epiphany ends with a key idea: a founder’s role isn’t just to do—it’s to infect the company with belief and clarity of purpose. Their job is to make their passion scalable and their knowledge transferable.
That’s how you build a company—not just a personal brand.