“My business is my baby. I’ll struggle to let go of the reins.”
When I talk about my transition at Rotageek from founder and chief executive officer to chief revenue officer, this is often the line I hear from fellow entrepreneurs.
I get it. As founders, we’re often deeply invested in our startups, and that’s certainly true for me. Rotageek was, and still is, a passion project, born out of a desire to improve shift workers’ lives.
But Rotageek’s journey to acquisition shifted the role I needed to play, and I learnt valuable lessons about how to know when it’s time to act in a different capacity.
I started my career in the NHS and spent 16 years there as a doctor. I worked in A&E for half of that time, treating cardiac arrests and gunshot wounds and working 52-hour shifts. But I swapped my scrubs for suits after realising that emergency departments’ rostering systems were broken and inflexible, and this was taking its toll on frontline teams.
I, along with my two co-founders, set out to fix this, and in 2009, Rotageek was born. We started as a fairer, more flexible scheduling platform for trauma teams, but soon expanded into other shift-based industries including retail and hospitality after realising the tech could help them, too.
All that to say, Rotageek’s mission is personal to me. I spent years building the business, and I was, and still am, invested in every new feature rollout and client acquisition. But when it was time for me to ‘side step’ into a different role within the company, I knew it was the right thing to do.
The opportunity for my role to change arose when Rotageek was acquired by ELMO Group in 2025. I was excited about my career transition because I knew it was what was best for the business’s future. With a new leader at the helm and access to ELMO Group’s additional resources, we could take Rotageek to the next level and offer even greater support to our customers.
But I’ve seen a handful of founders in similar positions struggle to let go, even those whose goal has always been to successfully exit their business. They stay in the top job for longer than they perhaps should, not being open to the idea that the company may be better-served if they passed on the baton. And this can inadvertently hold the business back.
To continue scaling successfully, you need someone steering the ship who has deep expertise in the direction you’re heading – and this may be different from what was required when the business was in its infancy. If the company needs an operator and you’re a visionary, or it needs a diplomat and you’re a disruptor, there might come a time when you need to think differently about your role.
Recognising this requires being completely honest with yourself, and it’s easier said than done. It’s your company so it’s natural to feel like you’re the only one who could sit in the leadership seat – because it was your big idea, you know every aspect of the business and it’s yours. It’s also easy to confuse your need for the company to succeed – and the purpose the leadership role brings you – with the company actually needing you. These are very human feelings, but this is exactly the issue. It’s often an emotional instinct rather than a commercial one.
As the business grows, founders should regularly assess from an outsider’s perspective whether they are still best placed to be boss. And if there’s a time you feel you’re not, or an opportunity to take the business to new heights through an acquisition appears, it’s worth considering stepping into a new part of the business.
There’s no denying that ‘sidestepping’ into a different role is an adjustment. It’s different from walking away completely. You’re putting someone else in the driver’s seat of the business you’ve built and nurtured, whilst you remain sat next to them with a front row seat to all of their decisions.
But it also means a new, exciting chapter for you. And if you wish for the business you’ve poured all your time, energy and passion into to continue to grow, you cannot let your closeness to the company blind you to what’s best for it. Know when it’s time to step into a different role.
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