Reporting to a founder is different from reporting to a manager. Here are four ways to make this special relationship work.

For more than a decade, founder-led companies have returned more than twice as much to shareholders as companies that are not founder-led, according to Bain. In tech, the multiple is higher still. The executives I speak with take roles at founder-led companies because they’re attracted to high returns. Then they discover the founder will not let go of the work the executive was hired to lead.

I coach C-suite executives who report to founders and co-founders, including COOs, CPOs, CTOs, chiefs of staff and heads of function. I also coach founders themselves, at companies ranging in size from a handful of employees to publicly traded behemoths. Most managing-up advice, my own included, assumes your boss holds a particular role, but this advice doesn’t stick when your founder is running a company they built themselves.

Every founder keeps a short list of tasks they will never hand over, no matter what the organizational chart says, and some of those tasks are likely on your job description.

I worked with a chief of staff who reported to a founder. In interviews and in their job description, they were told they would own strategy, operations and business development, but they quickly learned that they didn’t truly own them. Sure, they could have fought for the scope they were promised, but it would have been a losing battle. Instead, I coached them to focus on projects where they had real ownership .

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