Mar 2, 2026
"I'm still across the product for now." Your team hasn't believed "for now" in a long time.
They know. They can see your calendar. They keep an eye on every choice you make. They don't ask why things are slow anymore because they already know. "For now" is the most expensive phrase a founder can say.
I've been on both sides of this. As an engineer, I watched a founder become the "invisible ceiling." As a product leader, I came in after "for now" had been running for 18 months.
From the team's point of view, this is what it looks like. No one knows what's actually the priority. Five things are going on at the same time. Everything is average because no one pays full attention to anything. Engineers stop pushing back because they know the answer will always come from the same place.
It's not the founder's fault that this is happening. They are close because they care. Because they made this. Because giving someone else the responsibility for a product feels different than giving them a task. But the team doesn't see it as care. They feel like they're waiting.
It's not when they hire a PM or bring in a fractional product leader - that I've seen founders really change. It's when someone says it clearly that you're not staying on top of the product. You are the function of the product. The team will keep going at the speed of your availability until that changes.
You have to give "for now" an end date for it to end.
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I'm a father of 3 from Sydney, a product and technology leader. I write about leadership, product management, technology and the messy reality of making work work.
I'm currently building and experimenting with a mildly alarming number of things. I also work as a fractional product leader, stepping in where the founder or CEO is still carrying product decisions on their own, and offer 1:1 product leadership coaching for senior PMs and emerging product leaders. I founded SoundingBoard, practical peer exchange for product people. Connect via LinkedIn, or follow me on X.
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