The firm — a mid-stage Indonesian technology company — had crossed an inflection in headcount that its operating model had not crossed with it. The founder’s question was a recognisable one: which calls had to remain on the founder’s desk, and which had to leave it for the firm to be a real firm.
The engagement ran in two phases — first a careful read of where decisions actually got made, and then a redesign that pulled apart what had been a single founder’s job into the four jobs it had quietly become.
The firm did not become a different company. It became the company it had been growing into, faster.
Most growing firms confuse a hiring problem with an architecture problem.
What we did
- — Reframed the operating model around a small set of decisions the leadership team alone should be making.
- — Designed a layer of senior leadership that did not previously exist in the firm.
- — Worked with the founder on the calls that should, and should not, leave the founder's desk.
- — Codified a meeting and decision rhythm that survived the founder's later absences.
Practice · Management