The Delegation Cliff

The chart plots two revenue lines over five years from the same $1.5M start. The green line, where the founder hands delivery to a team and spends the freed time closing two new deals a month, climbs to $3.5M. The red line, where the founder stays in every project and turns down work because no one else can run it, rises briefly then sags to about $1.85M. By year five there's a $1.5M gap. Same founder quality - the difference is the structure that either frees the founder or traps them.