When it comes to your role as a founder, there are two distinct schools of thought that emerge. The first is that you must be the primary "doer," and the second is that you must elevate yourself to become the primary "delegator." The secret is that both are correct, just at different times.
Camp A: The Founder as Chief Doer
The most passionate argument for the founder-as-doer comes from the raw reality of starting a business. In the beginning, you have to do it all because there is no one else. As highlighted in the "Just Do It" episode on the Ecommerce Conversations podcast, there's a real danger in getting stuck in planning and strategy before you've even made a sale. The first job is simply to build something that works. The Hammersley Brothers constantly remind listeners to get the basics right, and early on, the founder is the only person with the vision and passion to ensure the operational foundation is solid. You are the chief operator, the lead marketer, and the head of product. This isn't a distraction from the "real work," it is the real work of finding product-market fit and a viable business model.
Camp B: The Founder as Strategic Delegator
This camp argues that a founder's time is the company's most precious asset, and every moment spent on a task someone else could do is a cap on growth. The goal is to make the difficult but essential transition from working in the business to working on the business. Bill D'Alessandro is the poster child for this, and he details his journey of moving from doer to manager on Ecommerce Conversations. He evolved from performing nearly every task to focusing only on a few high-leverage activities that only he could do. Similarly, on The eCommerceFuel Podcast, Bryan Croft explained how building a leadership team was the key that unlocked his company's scale, freeing him to focus exclusively on culture and vision. This philosophy, which Gregory McKeown explores in his episode "The Disciplined Pursuit of Less," centers on identifying your highest point of contribution and ruthlessly eliminating or delegating everything else.
I think the debate itself presents a false choice. The real skill of entrepreneurship isn’t choosing one camp, but in mastering the transition between them. You must begin in Camp A; it’s non-negotiable. You have to earn the right to delegate by first grinding it out and creating a business that has momentum. The mistake isn't starting as a doer, it's staying one for too long. A business that is entirely dependent on your two hands is a job, not a scalable asset. Your personal capacity becomes the bottleneck for the entire company, leading straight to burnout and stagnation.
So, what you should do depends entirely on where you are on your journey. If you’re just starting out or your revenue is still nascent, fully embrace your role as the doer. Your job is to be in the trenches. Listen to Chris Bello’s productivity hacks on EcomCrew to manage the chaos, and, crucially, start documenting your processes. That documentation is the bridge to Camp B. If you’re at a point where the business has traction and you feel constantly pulled into tasks you know aren’t the best use of your time, it is time to change your job description. Your new role is to build the systems and team that can run the day-to-day. This is one of the most important stages of Entrepreneurial Growth Stages and where true E-Commerce Leadership is forged. Start by exploring resources on Team Building And Delegation to make your first hires effective, allowing you to focus on your next horizon of growth.