After nearly 2 years of talking, and 1 month of planning- Lise is now exiting the company at the end of September.    Her exit leaves a  challenge for me, since HR and Finance and Accounting are new areas for me – and yet I’m very excited – since change is good, and to move the company forward Finance needs to be given a much higher priority than it was in the past.

And so, from the big point of view, the control of company now, once again, abstracts another level – no longer being able to manager the company by simple cash flow, available cash, etc. – rigorous long term financial planning is needed.   This is needed for new things to function in the future – such as shareholders, investors (equity), efficient profit sharing with employees, etc.  

I’m going to shift my personal responsibilities to another level of abstraction – looking at the company from P&L point of view, hiring, staffing, investor.  In a way I’m sad, because I’m going to be leaving behind my hobbies – playing with the web servers, detailed technology, programming.    BUT – my plan is this – get the size up – hire a CEO (to replace me) – and move myself into a technical/marketing role.    I think this is about 3 years away – but already I can see myself delegating the CEO functions – and moving into the technical/marketing fields that I enjoy.  But for this, must first grow the company! :)  And to grow – must have stick financial controls.