Sam Altman’s Guide to Delegation: How Founders Get It Wrong

Startup Bell
Sep 11, 2024
3 min read

Delegation is essential as your company grows, but Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI and former president of Y Combinator, believes that most founders get delegation wrong. According to him, founders either delegate way too much or way too little, and finding the right balance is tough. Here’s a breakdown of what he means and how you can avoid these common mistakes.

Photo: Inclusion Times

Too Much or Too Little Delegation?

Altman explains that some founders fail to delegate enough, usually because they had one bad experience. Maybe they hired the wrong VP who didn't meet expectations, and they ended up regretting it. After that bad experience, founders can become overly cautious, fearing delegation itself is a mistake. They stop trusting others to handle important tasks, which can limit growth and overburden the founder.

On the other hand, some founders go too far and delegate tasks that they’re deeply passionate about or that are critical to the company's success. Altman warns that delegating the most crucial aspects of your business can lead to dissatisfaction on both sides. For example, if you're passionate about product development but hire a VP of Product, you may clash with them over how things should be done.

Entrepreneurs Who Found The Right Balance

A couple of examples that relate to Sam Altman's point about delegation:

Ben Chestnut – Mailchimp Ben Chestnut, the co-founder of Mailchimp, built the email marketing platform into a highly successful company. In its early stages, Ben handled everything from product development to customer service. However, as the company grew, he learned to delegate tasks to a trusted team but kept control of customer experience, something he felt was key to Mailchimp's success. By focusing on the most important areas—like understanding customer needs—while delegating other responsibilities, Chestnut helped Mailchimp grow into a company with over 12 million customers.
Melanie Perkins – Canva Although Melanie Perkins, the CEO of Canva, is becoming more recognized, her story of balancing delegation is still relatively unknown to many. When Canva began scaling rapidly, Melanie realized she needed to delegate many operational roles. However, she held on to product vision and company culture, two areas she believed were central to Canva’s long-term growth. While delegating functions like sales and marketing, Melanie focused on ensuring that Canva's design tools remained easy to use and innovative. Today, Canva has millions of users worldwide.

Hold On to What Matters Most

Altman’s solution is simple: hold on to the one or two things that are most critical to your company’s success and that you personally care about. For example, if you’re a product-driven founder, continue leading product development. If finance is your thing, keep control over it, and hire support in other areas.

By focusing on what you love and what’s critical, you’ll feel more comfortable delegating everything else. You can trust others to handle other tasks because you know that the most important things are still in your hands.

Finding the Balance

The key to successful delegation is finding the balance. Yes, you need to delegate to grow, but you shouldn’t hand over the reins to everything. Altman suggests learning from early mistakes, trusting that delegation works, and keeping control over the most critical aspects of your business.

By doing so, you'll not only grow your company but also stay deeply connected to what drives you as a founder.

Listen to Sam Altman: