You are no longer in the middle.

Your business is past winging it.

But it’s not ready for layers of management.


So everything still routes back to you.

The Messy Middle

The messy middle is a stage.


It shows up when a business outgrows intuition

but hasn’t yet built systems that replace the founder.


There are too many moving parts to “just handle.”

And too few structures to let people decide without escalation.


So the founder becomes the connector.


  • decisions wait
  • exceptions escalate
  • hires ask instead of decide
  • progress depends on follow-ups


The business runs. Because the founder is in the loop.


This is a just stage but a problematic one.

The Middle Definition

The messy middle is a stage.


It shows up when a business outgrows intuition

but hasn’t yet built systems that replace the founder.


There are too many moving parts to “just handle.”

And too few structures to let people decide without escalation.


So the founder becomes the connector.


  • decisions wait
  • exceptions escalate
  • hires ask instead of decide
  • progress depends on follow-ups


The business runs.

Because the founder is in the loop.