Insights
The Operator’s Brief.
Practical writing on running a company that scales past its founder — operations, hiring, technology, and the numbers. One idea at a time, from people who run these systems for a living.
ISSUE N°012 · PUBLISHED WEEKLY · NO TREND-CHASING, NO LISTICLES
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Latest
N°012What PE operating partners do — and how to get the same discipline without selling equity
Read the brief →: What PE operating partners do — and how to get the same discipline without selling equityPrivate equity operating partners exist because ownership alone doesn’t create operational discipline — someone has to actually install it. In the first twelve to eighteen months after an acquisition, the operating partner’s job is usually the same short list regardless of the fund or the…
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N°003
Signs your company has outgrown its operating systems (a 20-point checklist)
Most founders don’t notice the moment their company outgrows its operating systems, because there isn’t one moment. It’s a slow accumulation of small workarounds — a process someone…
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N°002
You don’t have an HR problem — you have a constraint on growth
Nobody wakes up thinking “today I have an HR problem.” Founders wake up thinking: we’re missing targets. I can’t find good leaders. Margins are shrinking and nobody can…
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N°001
The founder bottleneck: why hiring more people isn’t fixing it
Most founders solve the bottleneck the same way: they hire. The org chart says the company needs a VP of Sales, a controller, a head of ops —…