I recently listened to a conversation between Sam Parr, Shaan Puri, and Ryan Deiss that completely reframed how I view the "growth ceiling."
I’ve worked with brands scaling from $1M to $50M in revenue, and I see the same pattern play out every single time.
Somewhere around $7M to $10M, growth stalls. The problem usually isn't the product. It isn't the market. And it isn't a lack of ideas.
The problem is you. You are the bottleneck.
Ryan Deiss dropped a quote during the pod that every founder needs to tape to their monitor:
"The more valuable you are, the less valuable the company is."
If you are the most valuable asset in the building, you can never go on vacation. More importantly, you can never sell. Buyers don't want to acquire a business that collapses the moment the founder leaves the room.
Here is the "30-minute MBA" on how to break through that $10M ceiling.
1. MVP vs. The Owner's Box
Every entrepreneur hits a point where it feels good to be "The Man."
It feeds the ego to have your fingerprints all over the business, to take the final shot, and to be the hero saving the day. But while that feels good, it destroys your enterprise value.
You have to make a choice:
Do you want to be on the court hitting the game-winning jump shot (The MVP)?
Or do you want to be up in the Owner's Box watching the team you built win without you?
Most entrepreneurs stay stuck as the MVP because they lack impulse control. They choose feeling important over building a sellable asset.
2. The Two-Bucket Problem
When I see brands hit that $10M wall, founders often try to fix everything at once. Deiss argues you should simplify it down to two constraints:
Demand Constraint: "I need more leads and sales."
Supply Constraint: "Please stop giving me leads; I can't fulfill the ones I have."
Once you identify which bucket you are in, the job is simple: Who do I need to hire to fix this specific bucket?
You don't need to find a "unicorn" who is better than you at business. You just need to find people who are better than you at that one specific bottleneck.
3. Make, Sell, Fulfill
So, how do you actually replace yourself?
Every business, no matter how complex, only does three things:
Make stuff.
Sell stuff.
Fulfill stuff.
Go to a whiteboard. Map out exactly how your company handles those three steps. Once you see the map, you will see exactly where you are the cog stopping the wheel from turning.
That is where you hire.
Stop trying to be the Most Valuable Player. Start building a valuable team.