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Tran Minh Quan has witnessed dozens of cases where founders held the CEO chair too long — and most ended badly. "The issue isn't that they weren't skilled," he says. "The issue is that the company was at a stage needing different skills than they had — and they didn't recognize it."
5 Signs It's Time to Transition
According to Quan: (1) The company is scaling but you're micromanaging more, not less; (2) The board and investors are increasingly suggesting a "professional CEO"; (3) You find yourself more excited by product and vision than daily operations; (4) Revenue growth is slowing despite strong market opportunity; (5) High senior leadership turnover due to cultural conflict.
“Stepping down isn't giving up — it's transitioning from a role you're no longer best suited for to one where you're still the best: vision and culture.”