Episode 320: The Founder Bottleneck: How to Reclaim Your Time and Scale Faster feat. Tricia Sciortino
If you are working longer hours and making less progress, you are probably the bottleneck. Tricia Sciortino of Belay and I talk about delegation and return on time, so the founder can lead instead of doing the assistant’s job. Start with how to leave the Founder’s Trap.
Tricia is the CEO of Belay, and she was the company’s first employee. She said that herself on the show, and I asked her about it. She also said Belay now does nine figures annually, and that none of that would have been possible without a great assistant at her side.
The pattern she sees, and I see it too, is a founder who has already built a team and is still doing the admin. A couple of hours a day on work someone else could do is not a small leak. It is how you stay the bottleneck. Tricia’s line is the one I want you to keep: if you don’t have an assistant, you are the assistant. You are already doing the work. You are just billing it at your rate.
She measures that with what she calls return on time, or ROT. Are you spending the hours on the work that actually grows the business? If the answer is no, reclaiming 20 hours a week is not a luxury. It is the only way the founder gets back to leading. I told her I was nervous when I hired my first assistant. A mentor had to push me. I did not know what I would give that person to do. Not long after, I had more than one, because I had been doing more than I realized.
Tricia’s other point is timing. A lot of founders treat an assistant as a reward that comes after they hit some revenue number. She has seen the opposite work: you hire the help in order to get the result. She talked about starting with as little as 10 hours a week. The point is to begin, then let the work show you what to hand off next.
AI does not replace that hire. Tricia called AI a force multiplier for a skilled assistant. The assistant still has to manage the tool. In her own work, that person has taken on chief of staff type support, including turning conversations into action items. An earlier virtual assistants episode covers a related topic with a different guest, if you want that conversation too.
If you want a concrete move from this episode, write down the work you did this week that did not require you. That list is the first job description.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Longer hours and slower progress usually mean the founder is still doing work that should have been handed off.
- Tricia was Belay’s first employee and is now CEO. She said the company does nine figures annually.
- Return on time, Tricia’s term, asks whether your hours are going into work that actually grows the business.
- If you don’t have an assistant, you are the assistant. You are already doing the work at your rate.
- Hire the help to get the result, not as a reward after the result.
- You can start small, even with a handful of hours a week, and let the work show you what to delegate next.
- AI multiplies a skilled assistant. It does not replace the need for one.
- The founder belongs on the work only they can do: direction, relationships, and decisions that move the company.
Connect with Tricia Sciortino:
- Website: Belay Solutions
- LinkedIn: Tricia Sciortino on LinkedIn
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FAQ
What is the founder bottleneck in this episode?
The founder is stuck reacting, doing admin and firefighting, instead of leading. Charles and Tricia’s point is that those hours come at the expense of the work that actually grows the company, so the days get longer and the business stays slower.
What is return on time (ROT)?
Return on time is Tricia’s term for whether you are spending your hours on the work that actually grows the business. Low-value tasks look cheap until you bill them at the founder’s rate.
Does this episode say every founder needs an assistant?
Tricia’s line is, “If you don’t have an assistant, you are the assistant.” She means you are already doing the work, just at your own hourly rate. She also called a skilled assistant plus AI a force multiplier. That is her framing, not a pitch for any one firm.
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