After many years of building companies, there’s one truth I keep coming back to: if I let my “Founder Momentum” slip, the company loses the energy that sparks anything new.
And the hardest part? It’s still a daily battle for me.
The Founder Momentum
The “Founder Momentum” is the force that kicks things off and carries them across the finish line. It’s not the middle work, the operations or the administration. It’s clarity, creativity, direction and drive. It’s the part of my contribution that’s hardest for anyone else to replicate.
Founder Momentum vs Operational Tasks
In my daily reality, there are two types of work:
- Founder Momentum: the unique, irreplaceable contributions where my involvement actually lifts the outcome – ideas, direction, energy, vision, initiation, completion and decisive action.
- Operational Tasks: everything that can be described, repeated or delegated: emails, coordination, updates, fixes, admin, status follow-ups. Necessary – but not transformative.
And here’s the trap: Operational Tasks give me the illusion of productivity.
It’s easy to walk away from a day of tasks thinking: “Today I did real work.”
But that kind of work slowly kills my Founder Momentum.
Momentum requires space, clarity, courage and presence – all things that disappear when I bury myself in operations.
More Than Strategy, Tactics and Operations
It’s tempting to map this onto strategy vs tactics vs operations.
But Founder Momentum doesn’t fit inside those categories.
Strategy can be co-created.
Tactics can be executed by others.
Operations can be automated.
Founder Momentum sits outside those definitions.
It’s the force that:
- initiates something before a strategy even exists
- maintains momentum when processes slow down
- finishes with quality when everyone else is ready to move on
- takes the personal risk that no one else can or will take — the risk of making the big call, moving first, and owning the consequences
It’s not a job title. It’s a discipline.
AI Makes the Contrast Clearer
AI is taking over more Operational Tasks every month.
That’s a gift – but it also exposes something:
My value as a founder doesn’t come from doing more tasks.
It comes from doing the right kind of work.
Work AI can’t replace:
- starting new ideas
- sensing patterns and timing
- navigating uncertainty
- making bold decisions without perfect data
- energising people
- raising ambition and standards
These are Founder Momentum moments.
My Daily Struggle
I try to ask myself:
Is what I’m doing right now Founder Momentum – or just Operational Tasks?
Most days, the answer is immediate.
And I’ll admit it:
It’s incredibly easy to get pulled into operations.
It’s comfortable.
It’s measurable.
It feels productive.
But every time I spend too long in Operational Tasks, my momentum fades.
My energy drops.
My creativity flattens.
My impact shrinks.
And when my Founder Momentum dies, the organisation feels it long before I do.
My Role Across the Companies
Across most of our companies in Arnsbo Group, we have strong CEOs, directors and partners who run the businesses day-to-day.
They are the operational engines.
My role is different.
I try to contribute through Founder Momentum – by stepping into specific projects, challenges and opportunities where I can make a meaningful difference.
Not by inserting myself into daily operations, but by bringing perspective, energy, ideas and direction.
That’s where I hope to move the needle.
A Natural Fit With EOS
We use the EOS framework across most of our companies, and Founder Momentum fits naturally with the Visionary role.
The Visionary is the person who sees opportunities, sets direction, shapes culture, connects dots and pushes the organisation forward.
That’s precisely where my Founder Momentum belongs.
Not inside the operational machinery, but above it – energising, challenging and accelerating it.
Conclusion
Founder Momentum is the difference between being busy and being valuable.
Operational Tasks can be handled by a strong team – and/or by AI.
Founder Momentum can only be delivered by a founder.
And even though I fight to protect it every single day, it remains one of my most important responsibilities.
