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The Startup Bottleneck: Where Founders Waste the Most Time(And How to Fix it)

Building a startup is a race against time, but too often, founders unknowingly slam on the brakes. Between overthinking decisions, getting lost in admin work, and trying to do everything themselves, startups slow down long before they ever get the chance to scale. The worst part? Most of these bottlenecks are self-imposed.

Decision Fatigue: The Mental Drain That Slows You Down

One of the biggest culprits is decision fatigue. Early-stage founders make hundreds of decisions a day—big ones like pricing strategy and hiring, and small ones like what font to use on their landing page. Over time, this constant decision-making drains mental energy and slows execution. Take Brian Chesky, co-founder of Airbnb, for example. In the company’s early days, he spent way too much time deliberating over the perfect Airbnb logo. Eventually, he realized that obsessing over minor details was stopping the business from growing. His solution? Prioritizing high-impact decisions and delegating everything else.

Fake Work: When Busyness Masquerades as Productivity

Another common trap is founders doing too much “fake work.” This is the work that feels productive but doesn’t actually move the needle—tweaking website copy for the tenth time, endlessly refining internal processes, or spending weeks picking the right project management tool instead of, you know, actually acquiring customers. Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, calls this the "schlep filter"—founders gravitate toward comfortable tasks instead of the hard but necessary work (like sales and customer validation). If you’re spending more time in Notion than talking to customers, that’s a red flag.

Refusing to Delegate: The Founder’s Ego Trap

Another massive bottleneck? Holding onto tasks that should have been outsourced or automated. Founders often hesitate to delegate because they think no one else can do it as well as they can. While that might be true for core product development, it’s not true for bookkeeping, customer support, or social media scheduling. A great example here is Nathan Barry, founder of ConvertKit. In the early years, he was writing blog posts, running ads, and handling customer support himself—until he realized that hiring specialists not only freed up his time but also produced better results.

How to Remove Bottlenecks and Speed Up Growth

So, how do you fix these bottlenecks? First, identify where you’re spending your time. Use a time-tracking tool (Toggl, RescueTime) or simply log your tasks for a week. Then ask yourself: Is this work driving revenue? If not, automate it, delegate it, or eliminate it. Second, set decision-making frameworks—use the “two-minute rule” for small decisions and a simple prioritization system for big ones (e.g., impact vs. effort). Lastly, get comfortable with imperfect action. Speed matters more than perfection in the early days, and progress beats procrastination every time.

The harsh truth? Most startup bottlenecks exist between the founder’s ears. The faster you learn to let go, the faster your startup will grow.

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Fractional Openings

Head of People @ XP Health
AI Product Manager @ Valsoft
Chief Marketing Officer @ Crop.photo
Growth Marketing Lead @ Punks & Pinstripes
Chief Financial Officer @ Keep IT Simple
Head of Data Security @ OpenServ
Chief Operations Officer @ Palermo House

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Hiring Predictions for 2025

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Startup Story

The ick app

Founded by Matthew Oxley and his wife, Sophie, The ick app was born out of years of frustration with corporate B2B marketing language—overstuffed with jargon, vague buzzwords, and impressive-sounding nonsense that ultimately says nothing. Having worked in the industry themselves, they knew this was a widespread issue, and they’d even been guilty of it too. So, they built The ick, a writing tool designed to help marketers and business writers strip out unoriginal language and say what they actually mean. Unlike AI-powered editing tools, every suggestion in The ick is curated by real humans, encouraging writers to think critically rather than relying on automated rewrites.

The ick addresses a major problem in business writing—copy that’s bloated with corporate-speak and generic phrases that fail to engage an audience. Instead of simply correcting grammar or spelling, The ick highlights problem areas, explains why certain words or phrases don’t work, and suggests clearer alternatives. The goal isn’t just to clean up the writing, but to break the cycle of bad B2B copy altogether. With humor and a thoughtful touch, the tool helps writers create content that is direct, compelling, and actually worth reading.

Unlike many writing assistants that rely on AI-generated suggestions, The ick takes a different roach. It doesn’t rewrite text for users; instead, it forces them to pause, reflect, and refine their own words. The tool acts as a final checkpoint before publishing, with many users running their content through The ick as a last step to ensure they’re not about to send out something embarrassing. Marketers, founders, and agency professionals love it because it helps them avoid sounding like a corporate press release and connect with real people instead.

Building The ick hasn’t been without its challenges. Bootstring a SaaS business while raising a child and moving countries is no small feat, and balancing work, life, and product development has been a constant juggling act. On top of that, Matthew and Sophie are non-technical founders, meaning they’ve had to rely on external developers to bring their vision to life. Adjusting to the slower pace of software development—compared to the fast-moving world of marketing—has been tough, but they’ve learned to adapt. Despite these hurdles, they’ve stayed focused on their mission: helping businesses communicate more clearly and effectively.

For new entrepreneurs, Matthew and Sophie’s advice is simple: just get on with it. No one’s going to build your dream for you. However, they also caution against the "ship fast at all costs" mentality. Yes, speed matters, but quality does too—it’s worth taking the time to make something great. They also emphasize the importance of ignoring startup noise and focusing on what actually matters: building a product people love and talking to users. If you’re tired of writing the same jargon-filled copy as everyone else, The ick is here to help you sound like a human again.

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EVENTS

TechBrew:AM
2/13 : 8:00-9:00
West End Architectural Salvage
207 9th St, Des Moines
Register

Park Street Kitchen Bar
2nd Friday of the Month
435 Park St, Des Moines

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