How to Delegate as a Young Entrepreneur

By Jody Bell

Sometimes passion feels like staring at an in-class writing assignment and then frantically glancing at the clock to see you only have a few minutes left. As you look back over your writing thus far, you see you already have a good amount of work done and have fulfilled the requirements. Yet your outline - the material and conclusion you have been working towards and feel confident in - barely has a dent in it, and you still need another 4 paragraphs to get towards the jaw-dropping concluding paragraph you have thought up. Suddenly, your heart pounds and your hands get clammy against the paper. 

As a writer, this is always how my writing assignments would go. I would work incredibly hard on an outline, and during the allotted time to write I would fulfill the writing requirements for the class, but never write an essay that does my outline justice. Passion, and specifically leading a start-up, can be incredibly similar. 

There’s a spark, and as you build a business model you notice synergies, your expectations for yourself grow, and suddenly you are imagining a real (and very intimidating) venture. Yet, as you start executing on this business model, it feels like your own high expectations for yourself are essentially making it impossible to reach your goals in a timely manner – just like an in class writing example. 

For many entrepreneurs, this is exactly why they bring additional people into their start-up and turn a solo passion project into a team effort. Yet, for a project that becomes so near to your heart, it can be incredibly difficult to embrace a more collaborative environment and learn how to delegate on such a personal project. 

Yet - being in this position is actually a great sign for the health of your start-up; it’s an indicator that people really believe in you and your mission statement, and want to join you in your efforts to bring it to fruition. 

We’ve put together the top five tips on delegating, and how you can transition to a team project as seamlessly as possible. 

1. Assign/understand leadership roles and ensure everyone has a sense of ownership

Upon discussion of forming a real team around a pre-existing start-up, it’s crucial that you discuss whether you will remain CEO, or if the dynamic will be more a partnership. 

For many, transitioning into a pure partnership when you have already independently conceived and executed part of the idea can be difficult – even subconsciously you feel a real sense of ownership and letting go of that can be difficult. This can be avoided if you find an area of the execution that you lack resources in, and make this new team member a leader within this specific niche of the company. For example, say you have a landing page for your start-up and have engaged with the media, but now you need to build an app to accompany your venture. Bring in a peer who knows how to code, and communicate that they are in charge of the user design and creation of the app while you remain the larger steward of the project. This maintains your vision for the start-up while also giving your new team member a sense of ownership in the project (which is proven to help with productivity and motivation!)

2.Lean on organizational tools such as a Gantt chart

In the back of each entrepreneur's head is the knowledge that most start-ups fail. While discouraging as that may sound, there are some incredibly helpful tools intended to help small start-up teams succeed. 

My personal favorite is something called a Gantt chart. This chart shows the short term activities that need to be done, a projected timeline for these activities, and who is responsible for them. It can be updated as the work gets done, providing a real-time snapshot of start-up progress and thus improving transparency amongst the team. Plus, the process of making and updating the Gantt chart is a great way to get a granular breakdown on the business model that can achieve a venture’s short term goal. 

3.Analyze and discuss the leadership/working styles of the group

At the end of the day, a team is all about its relationships. And the foundation of any healthy working relationship is communication. 

As the leader of a start-up, it’s your responsibility to spark and moderate these conversations amongst peers. Discussing some of your fears about opening up your personal passion-project to others, or strengths/flaws in your communication/leadership style is a great way to start. Hopefully this vulnerability inspires your partners to be open about what their fears are and the flaws/strengths of their working styles. 

4.Be prepared to wear many hats despite having a set role in a start-up

Despite bringing in additional people for the sole purpose of delegating, you should expect to be involved in every aspect of your venture. 

You have likely been so immersed in your company that it can be hard to bring someone else up to speed (which would require stripping away the granularity and just communicating foundational aspects of your initiative.) As such, you should remain involved in every aspect of your organization to ensure you are there to step in and answer questions/lead as the structure of the team changes. This can sometimes require effort on your part; for example, say you bring in a developer to make an app because you can’t code. You should be at least proficient enough in coding to be able to guide the creative process and provide realistic feedback on the user interface. 

5.Stay flexible - have check-ins and be cognizant of when things aren’t working

The best advice we could give you as a leader of a start-up or even a leader of a Fortune 500 company, is to stay flexible and communicate. 

To be honest, this flexibility may be the hardest part of delegating after you have spent the past few months doing the entire initiative solo. It requires you to really trust those you are working with - and that’s where communication comes in. If you have healthy communication and all parties feel safe communicating when they are overwhelmed, stress, or have questions, you will notice that you trust your team structure more and more. Eventually you will come to appreciate the flexibility that collaboration requires - because that the end of the day, the more passionate and capable individuals are involved, the more likely you will produce a successful start-up. 

Jody Bell, 21 is Girls With Impact’s Editor in Chief and a program graduate from Greenwich High School. Girls With Impact is the nation’s only online, business and leadership program for girls 14-24, turning them into tomorrow’s leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators.