Why I fired myself as CEO of my own startup

Photo credit: Yaoqi Lai.

We successfully bootstrapped BankersLab with an idea, some IP, and a few laptops. Today, we’ve trained bankers from over 45 countries and built a recognized brand. Our course catalogue and geographic footprint continue to grow.

On March 15, I stepped down as CEO of the company and will become its “innovation advisor.” I’ll also be continuing as board director and remain CEO of PortfolioQuest, our spin-off entity.

Why the change?

Over a year ago, we established PortfolioQuest, a company created to build fully-digital versions of our simulation training products. BankersLab was the first investor, and I optimistically put myself in the position of being CEO and co-founder of both.

Initially, BankersLab incubated PortfolioQuest, so the arrangement was extremely efficient. In my regular conversations with our clients, I was able to source coveted product feedback and use cases for the new product. The spin-off went live late last year and, at the same time, the company faced a number of compelling, strategic opportunities. I realized that I couldn’t do it all by myself or risk dropping the ball somewhere along the way.

Our team does a fantastic job of keeping the trains running on time, with precious little support from me. I beam with pride at the regular compliments and thank-you’s clients give to our staff for consistent, high-quality delivery. So why hand BankersLab over to someone else?

It’s a question of juggling—and juggling well. If I drop the ball, I’m doing our team and our clients a disservice. If I lose control of my own health and well-being, I will do everyone a disservice.

What is your superpower? What is your kryptonite?

I’ve learned that, as a founder, you need to know what your superpower and your kryptonite is.

Over the years, I’ve developed an immunity against doing many things that I’m not particularly good at. I inoculated myself against perfection and unapologetically charged ahead to tackle anything that was thrown at me.

But recently, I had to ask myself a few critical questions. Had my immunity gotten too high? Possibly. Was I “over-coping” with the challenges of being a founder? Possibly. Was I doing it all at the expense of the quality my clients deserved? Possibly. Somewhere here probably lies my potential kryptonite, and I don’t want it to be at the expense of the company, our clients, or our team.

With that, I had to consider where I could best charge ahead, without immunity. Stepping back for a wider perspective, it’s clear that my strengths lie in creating “Version 0″ and connecting dots that are not yet apparent to others. I’m a connector and a creator. There are others who are better at maintaining and strategically growing subsequent versions.

I’ve realized I can be much more effective if I focus on testing use cases of ways we can combine our companies and other training and assessment innovation tools which are quickly emerging.

Superpower identified? Check.

Kryptonite mitigated? Check.

But what now?