Building Sollos: Handing Over
3 min read
Leadership Transition, Venture Building, Founder Lessons, Letting Go, Sollos, Startups
Knowing when to step back is as important as knowing how to build. Handing Sollos over was a deliberate part of the work.
Building something you’ll eventually need to step away from?
By the end of the build, most parts of the venture were in a good place. The product worked. The early team was in place. The brand had been tested. The commercial model was still evolving, but there were several credible options on the table.
What was clear was that the next phase needed someone who could take the business forward full time.
That wasn’t going to be me.
I’d been involved since the first idea. I’d run point on everything from product decisions to research, hiring, and stakeholder alignment. At one stage I was conducting sixty-plus interviews back to back. Fourteen-hour days felt normal. It was intense, demanding, and deeply rewarding work.
But my strengths sit in early-stage building and strategic shaping, not long-term operational leadership. By that point, I’d done what I came to do. Keeping hold of the role beyond that would have been about control, not what was best for the venture.
We brought in a new GM to carry the business forward. Someone who could focus on running, scaling, and evolving the company day to day, without the weight of having been there from the very beginning.
Letting go at the right moment creates space. Space for new ideas, new energy, and new leadership to shape what comes next.
Handovers are often framed as endings. In reality, they’re a sign that something has been built well enough to stand on its own.