Y-Combinator sharing some wisdom on how the role of CEO changes with company maturity. The three phases of the company align with Kent Beck's Explore-Expand-Extract concept. Due to the change in context, the people suited to a company in "explore" may not fit as it moves to "expand". So either the people need to adapt or you need to hire others. The article alludes to the changes for the founder-CEO of phase 1: "At the end of Phase 2, you’ll have a leadership team that you’ve “road tested” to the point that you can confidently delegate everything you did in Phase 1. ... You can then shift the burden of company building to your leadership team so that you can start working on Phase 3: taking profits from the core business and investing them in new, transformative products." So phase 2 is not only about establishing the company for longevity. It's also about questioning if you, as founder, are best suited to the phase 3 CEO. You need to make sure that the company centers around your vision rather than you as an individual, even if you continue in the role.