Why the Right People Matter More Than More Content
Lately, I have been questioning my relationship with social media.
Which feels risky to admit.
I built this business by showing up online. I regularly advise founders to use social media to grow. So stepping back even slightly feels counterintuitive.
But recently, it has started to feel repetitive.
The same hooks.
The same formulas.
The same “top five secrets” packaged differently.
And it is addictive. The scroll. The short bursts of dopamine. The emotional storytelling that pulls you into a rabbit hole.
It is not great for my mental health.
And adding my own voice into that noise, another square in someone else’s scroll, possibly contributing to their founder overwhelm, does not feel aligned.
What does feel aligned is connection.
Real conversation.
Real laughter.
Real understanding.
Which brings me to the Fundamental Four.
People.
Why Growth Always Comes Back to People
No matter how advanced your tech stack is, no matter how refined your operations strategy becomes, businesses still run on humans.
And as you grow, people become either your greatest leverage or your biggest source of friction.
Founder overwhelm often spikes at this stage. Not because the strategy is wrong. Not because the numbers are broken.
But because the wrong people are sitting in the wrong seats.
It is dangerously easy to panic hire when workload increases. To plug a gap rather than design a role. To bring someone in because you need relief now.
The problem is that quick fixes rarely scale profitably.
If you want to scale without doing everything yourself, your people strategy must be intentional.
A Simple Framework for Getting the Right People in the Right Seats
Before hiring again, before restructuring, before having difficult conversations, pause.
Go back to fundamentals.
1. Design the Roles From the Vision Down
Revisit your vision, your profit focused numbers, and your core processes.
Now imagine you had no team and were building from scratch.
What roles would this business genuinely need to deliver efficiently? What unique responsibilities would each role hold?
Define the seat before you think about who sits in it.
This is part of building business systems for growth rather than reacting to pressure.
2. Define What “Good” Looks Like
For each role, be clear about what good performance actually means.
Not vague expectations. Not personality traits.
Clear outcomes. Clear standards. Clear accountability.
Operational clarity reduces ambiguity, and ambiguity is one of the fastest ways to create founder overwhelm.
3. Audit Your Current Team Honestly
Now look at the people around you.
Full time. Part time. Contractors. Consultants.
Ask yourself:
Does this person clearly occupy one of the defined seats?
Do they have the skills to deliver what “good” looks like?
Do they fit the culture and direction of where the business is going?
If the answer is no, the issue may not be the person. It may be that the seat is undefined, misdesigned, or does not exist.
This is how you move from chaos to structure.
This Stage of Growth Is Normal
Every growing business reaches a point where people strategy becomes unavoidable.
Slowing down to define roles does not mean you are stepping back. It means you are building properly.
An operations strategy without clarity around people will always create friction.
With the right structure in place, growth becomes sustainable. Founder overwhelm decreases. Decisions feel cleaner.
And the business starts to support you, rather than rely on you.
Where to Focus First
If things feel messy right now, start by defining one seat clearly.
Not your entire organisation chart. Just one.
Clarity creates better conversations. Better expectations. Better results.
This is exactly the work I support founders with inside my 1:1 support. We identify where structure is missing and build the foundations that allow you to scale profitably and sustainably.
Growth is not about adding more noise.
It is about building with intention.