A Founder Habit That Kills Growth

The habits that make you successful as a founder are often the same ones that hold you back as a CEO. The biggest one I’ve seen is failing to move from cashing deals to chasing markets.

Early on, chasing deals is the only way forward. Every customer is a unique snowflake, and you pour yourself into each one. You tweak the product, customize the pitch, and personally close the deal. That habit gets you to your first million.

But what got you here will not get you further. As you scale, chasing individual deals stops working. Growth now comes from chasing markets. The job shifts from making it work for this customer in front of you to making it work for a well-defined group of customers. Once you find that group and nail the formula, the path is clear: ride that train until (almost) the end.

Many founders struggle to let go of the deal-chasing instinct. They keep diving into exceptions instead of systematizing the rule. That energy, once a strength, becomes a drag. The faster you shift your habit from “deal” to “market,” the faster your company compounds.