Most founders don’t notice the moment their company becomes dependent on them.

It happens gradually.

A quick approval here.

A small clarification there.

A meeting you join “just this once.”

None of it feels significant.

Until it becomes the operating system.

Over time, people stop deciding.

They present options.

They wait for confirmation.

They escalate earlier than they should.

And the founder becomes the center of the system without intending to.

The company didn’t design dependency.

It accumulated it.

Scale requires reversing that process.

Not by stepping away suddenly.

But by deliberately moving ownership outward.

One decision lane at a time.