Every founder starts by doing everything. The smart ones don’t stay there.
In the early days of building a business, you wear every hat. You’re the marketer, the accountant, the salesperson, the customer service rep, and somehow still the cleaner at the end of the day. It feels productive, but most of the time you’re drowning in noise, not signal.
As the business grows, that habit sticks. You’re still doing it all, still clinging to tasks you should have handed over, and wondering why there’s never time for the work that actually moves the needle. I’ve fallen into that trap twice.
Across more than 40 Millennial Masters conversations, one pattern stands out. The most effective founders are ruthless about focus, fearless in delegation, and unapologetic in saying no. They treat every yes as a withdrawal from a limited account of time, energy, and attention, and they spend it with care.
I’ve taken the best lessons from those founders and filtered them through hours of interviews. What’s left are the key insights on how they protect what matters most, trust their teams to handle the rest, and reject anything that drags them away from the work only they can do.👇🏻
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Only work on what matters
Mike Jones (Better Happy) sees the trap everywhere: “A lot of the time they’re just being busy fools… If you look at some of the best businesses in the world, it’s not that they just outwork everybody else. It’s that they work on the right things better.”
For Liam White (Dr. Will’s), it’s about directing effort with intent: “…on things that really, really move the needle in the business.”
Ryan Carruthers (AI Response Lab) uses an 80-20 lens: “Let’s just focus on the 20%… move out a lot of stuff that I shouldn’t really be doing.”
This 80-20 mindset is where most founders find the first real leverage in their week.
Jack Good (Reuseabox) keeps it simple: “…what’s essential Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and what is like a nice to have? And then trying to not do the nice to haves.”
And as Lydia Snape (Warwick Street Kitchen) puts it, when it’s crucial: “…you can’t afford not to.”
Growth starts with letting go
“You don’t have to do everything,” said Kieran Jones (Freethought Group). “You rely on the people you’ve hired… If you try and do everything, you’re going to do everything badly.”
Tyler Dunagin (Turnserv) keeps delegation structured: “We call it frames and rails… Giving my team clear KPIs and goals… It’s not to micromanage… it’s peace of mind for me.”
Francesca McClory (FutureCloud Accounting) approaches it bluntly: “I need to hire people that are better than me at some of the stuff that I don’t want to do.”
Kamal Ellis-Hyman (Aim A Little Higher) hires for outcomes: “I had to learn how to hire somebody for a specific outcome… I’m hiring for a problem, I’m hiring a solution.”
William Stokes (Co-Space) gives trust first: “With me, you don’t need to earn trust. You’ve got it already. If you break it, you’ll never get it again.”
Will Polston (North Star Thinking) has the reminder on a t-shirt: “I delegate the outcome, not the activity… It needs to be done, but I don’t need to do it.”
Sometimes delegation also means letting people go. Jack Good has learned the importance of “moving people on… If you want to grow a company.” And Francesca McClory has had to “stop seeing the good in everyone. Because it can backfire.”
Hold the line on your time
For Jasmine Foley (Empress Media Academy), family time is non-negotiable: “I always make sure I have to have time with my daughter every single day. That’s just a non-negotiable.”
Jordan Stachini (Co & Co) avoids clients who expect constant access: “…people that think they can text you, call you, email you any time… That is a huge, huge red flag for me.”
Ryan Carruthers learned from a partner who was “uncontactable on the weekends” and says to “set those boundaries and also just be really, really honest and open.”
Will Polston sums it up: “Structure creates efficiency.”
Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana (Impress) backs it up with action: “…I’m not sort of lurking in Teams… which gives them permission to do the same.”
Say no to stay on course
Gemma Price (HubGem) stands by her focus: “Staying focused on your aim and learning when to say no is crucial… otherwise you can get easily distracted and wear too many hats and not be good at any of them.”
Jordan Stachini turns down work she won’t enjoy: “…we say no to [work] because yes, we can do it, but are we going to enjoy it? No.”
Nick Telson (Trumpet) checks founder–opportunity fit: “…are we the right founders for this opportunity?… No, actually that’s not the right one.”
Noel Andrews (JobRack) resisted an easy pivot: “I was very resistant… I did not want to become a recruitment agency.”
Lexie Kirkconnell-Kawana calls her CEO role “almost a sort of marriage between yourself and the mission of a business.”
Tyler Dunagin learned the hard way: “…I was constantly on the job and on call 24/7… That’s what led to burnout.”
When saying no, speed matters. “A fast no is one of the best things you can get,” said Noel Andrews. And as Thibault Louis-Lucas warned: “…when I see a red flag… it will just get bigger and bigger over time.”
The real work only you can do
Every founder has 24 hours. The ones who last guard them with precision. They hire people they trust, step away from work that doesn’t need them, and refuse opportunities that pull them off course.
Saying no is a skill. Done well, it creates the space for decisions and actions that create real movement.
Delegation and prioritisation are leadership signals. They show your team you trust them, your clients you’re focused, and yourself that your time has a purpose. Hold on to every task and you’ll stay stuck inside the business instead of leading it.
The founders who thrive are the ones who strip their role to its essential parts, until all that remains is the work only they can do, and nothing else gets in the way.
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Brilliant as always ⭐ Restacked it 💥