TL;DR: Three growth blockers hit every founder I mentored this week: under-utilised personal branding opportunities (your credibility IS your competitive edge), doing too much yourself (delegate to focus on CEO decisions), and lacking outside perspective (mentors unlock solutions you can't see).
Just wrapped up six mentoring sessions with brilliant founders across fashion, sustainable consumer goods, agencies, and B2B SaaS and still buzzing from their energy! ⚡ What struck me wasn't their fancy business models or flashy metrics, but their genuine obsession with solving real problems that matter to people.
Here's what really got my attention: the same three growth blockers came up in every conversation.
Personal branding. 💡 Your credibility IS your company's competitive edge, especially in crowded spaces. Major companies are already on this - PayPal literally has a Head of CEO Content role dedicated to building their CEO's personal brand as a business asset. That's where marketing is heading: leadership branding that drives revenue and creates genuine competitive moats. This is exactly why when I work with startups, I focus heavily on CEO brand building alongside company brand work.
Delegation. I watched brilliant founders burn out doing $20/hour admin tasks while growth opportunities sat waiting. One founder I work with spent hours fixing website content while large corporate prospects expressed partnership interest. The issue isn't you figuring out whether Meta or influencer marketing works but it's having skilled people to take that off your plate. Smart founders invest in affordable talent early (I've worked with uni interns who turned out to be the hungriest, brightest talent I could have wished for), freeing themselves for strategic decisions only they can make.
Outside perspective. 👀 When you're swimming in day-to-day operations, you lose sight of the bigger picture. Every successful founder I know regularly taps trusted advisors who've walked similar paths. One conversation can unlock solutions you've been missing for months. Great startup mentorship platforms like Startmate and Growthmentor exist for this reason (disclosure: I coach on these platforms).
If you're building a startup or agency and want practical strategies for sustainable growth, need to untangle your revenue operations, or want to explore how these insights apply to your business, let's chat. 🚀