1. Founders significantly impact scaleups with their words and actions, being able to both drive positive change and cause harm. Working with scaleups, I guide founders to constructively use their influence, transitioning from direct task execution to fostering a culture that empowers teams, communicates high-level priorities, and establishes efficient workflows. This shift is essential for sustainable growth and avoiding team burnout or underperformance.

2. Understanding and defining key roles within a startup are crucial for smooth operations, effective fundraising, and employee motivation. Key roles include Operational (co)Founders, who are heavily involved and hold significant equity; Non-operational Co-founders, with limited involvement and minor equity; CEOs, ideally (co)founders with a major operational role and meaningful equity; Investors, providing capital and support; and Board Members, offering guidance and representation. Misalignment between titles, equity, and responsibilities can devalue a company.

3. I offer strategic advisory and angel investment to startups, large corporates, and venture funds, aiming to fast-track solutions and avoid costly mistakes. Engagement details are available through my website, and I encourage sharing my newsletter for more insights on startup building and leadership.

4. Effective management structure involves clear reporting lines within functions, distinguishing between people and craft management (solid line on the org chart) and workload and priorities management (dotted line on the org chart) to leverage team potential fully. Addressing conflict and underperformance requires taking accountability, setting clear goals, respectful treatment, and possibly role reevaluation for team members.

5. As a leader, instead of blaming an underperforming engineering team, focus on improving their work context and priorities by organizing them into mission-driven, cross-functional squads, led by technically credible Engineering Managers and outcome-focused Product Managers, with ambitious, measurable OKRs and a solid engineering culture.