One of the hardest transitions in entrepreneurship is realizing you can’t do everything yourself. In the earliest days, founders write code, close sales, send invoices, and answer support tickets. But once the company starts to grow, failing to delegate becomes a major bottleneck.

At the same time, delegating too much too soon can be just as fatal. Founders can’t outsource the core functions that shape the company’s trajectory—at least not in the early years.

So how do you know what to hand off and what to hold close? World-class founders and investors have clear patterns. Here’s a tactical playbook for delegation in startups.

Do Yourself: Vision and Storytelling

No one can articulate your company’s “why” better than you. In the early years, the founder is the story.

Marc Andreessen has said that founders must be the “chief evangelists” of their companies. It’s not something you can outsource to marketing. When Airbnb pitched Sequoia Capital, it was Brian Chesky himself who turned a quirky room-rental idea into a movement about belonging anywhere. That storytelling carried them through years of doubt.

Delegate when: You have a strong marketing team to scale the message. But early on: You, the founder, own the vision and narrative.

Delegate: Administrative and Back-Office Tasks

While founders should tell the story, they shouldn’t book the flights. Administrative work is deceptively time-consuming and drains focus from the high-leverage parts of building a startup.

Jeff Bezos has often noted that his leverage as CEO came from focusing only on decisions that were “irreversible and highly consequential.” Everything else could—and should—be handled by others.

Examples of what to delegate early: bookkeeping, scheduling, expense management, HR compliance. These aren’t unimportant, but they don’t require founder judgment.

Do Yourself: Hiring Your Early Team

Many founders make the mistake of delegating hiring too early. But your first 10, 20, even 50 hires are too important to leave to recruiters alone. Early team members set the tone for culture, performance, and execution.

Ben Horowitz has argued that founders should be “obsessive” about early hiring because culture is defined by who you let in the door. Stripe’s Patrick Collison echoes this, describing how he personally interviewed nearly every early hire to make sure they shared the company’s DNA.

Delegate when: You’ve defined a clear culture and hiring bar that others can replicate. But early on: The founder must interview and own decisions on the first critical hires.

Delegate: Specialized Technical and Functional Expertise

Founders are generalists by necessity. But there are moments when the best move is to bring in someone whose depth exceeds yours.

For example:

• Legal (don’t write your own contracts).

• Security (don’t duct-tape compliance in fintech or healthtech).

• Paid growth (if you’ve never run $1M/month ad budgets).

Reid Hoffman has said that great founders are “learning machines,” but even learning has limits. You can’t master every domain, so you need to know when to hire experts.

Do Yourself: Talking to Customers

Paul Graham has written repeatedly that the number one job of a founder is to talk to customers. In YC’s famous mantra, it’s “make something people want”—and you can’t know what people want if you’re not in the room (or on the call) with them.

Airbnb’s founders famously stayed in host homes and took photos themselves in the early days, learning first-hand what made hosts and guests tick. That empathy became the company’s product strategy.

Delegate when: You’ve built a product org with strong customer research. But early on: Founders should talk to customers every week.

Delegate: Day-to-Day Operations (Over Time)

In the first year, founders are often in the trenches handling customer support tickets, shipping updates, or chasing invoices. But as you scale, clinging to these tasks becomes a liability.

Shopify’s Tobi Lütke has noted, “If you’re still the best person to answer support tickets at 50 employees, something’s wrong.” Founders must transition from being the operators to building the systems and leaders who run operations.

Wrapping Up

Delegation is a balancing act. In the earliest days, you’ll touch everything. But the art of scaling is knowing what must stay in your hands, and what should quickly move out of them.

Own as a founder:

• Vision and storytelling.

• Hiring the early team.

• Talking to customers.

Delegate early:

• Administrative and back-office tasks.

• Specialized technical and functional expertise.

• Day-to-day operations (as the company matures).

The tactical rule: If it shapes the company’s future trajectory, do it yourself. If it drains energy without shaping strategy, delegate it fast. Behind every company that scales rapidly and successfully, there’s a founder with a solid grasp on what to do and what to delegate.