Governance, Processes & Systems

A business that depends on you is not yet a business.

The business case

The Same Burger in Every Town — Ray Kroc and the McDonald brothers · United States · from the 1950s. The McDonald brothers had built a single unusually efficient restaurant. They had redesigned the kitchen around a limited menu and a fixed sequence of tasks, so that food could be produced quickly and identically every time.

Why it matters

A business that depends on you is not yet a business. Founders resist documentation because they can already do the work and writing it down feels like a delay. But a process that exists only in your head cannot be delegated, cannot be improved by anyone else, and cannot survive your absence. The test is straightforward: could a capable new person deliver acceptable quality within a week using only what is written down?

What you will be able to do afterwards

  • Writing SOPs that people actually follow
  • Governance for a small company
  • ESOPs and equity conversations with your team

32 screens, audio-narrated, with a quiz at the end.