The moment GTM starts working, the founder often becomes the bottleneck
Early on, the founder does everything because nobody else has the context.
That makes sense.
The founder talks to customers, finds the first accounts, figures out the positioning, builds relationships and learns which deals are real.
Then it starts working.
And that is when the problem gets worse.
Traction creates more of everything
More customers. More opportunities. More partners. More events. More content. More team questions. More product decisions.
If the useful context still lives with the founder, every bit of growth generates more founder work.
The founder becomes the integration layer between the market and the company.
Very effective.
Not particularly scalable.
Hiring alone does not solve it
A sales hire can take activity.
They cannot instantly inherit years of founder judgment.
They still need to know which accounts matter, which buyer is serious, which objection is real, which customer request should affect the product, which relationship is sensitive, when to push and when to wait.
If that logic stays invisible, the new hire keeps coming back to the founder.
Now you have more headcount and the same bottleneck.
The answer is not removing the founder
The founder may still be the right person for strategic accounts, product commitments, important relationships and major negotiations.
Keep that.
Move the work around it.
Research. Preparation. Account planning. CRM. Follow-up. Content production. Event logistics. Customer-success routines.