Tell me if this sounds familiar to you:

You're walking into the office, and you notice there's a management meeting taking place that you're not a part of.  New employees are showing up that you've never interviewed.  The investors are interviewing a "seasoned" CEO to run the company.

You and your startup are breaking up - you just don't realize it yet.

Ah, the sad cycle of a startup.  An entrepreneur busts his ass to turn his vision into a company, management comes on board to help (via investors in some cases), and the entrepreneur gets moved aside.

Sometimes it's forced on you, and sometimes it's just the natural (and positive!) evolution of a company.  Either way, there comes a time when you need to leave your own company.

Let Management Manage

Once you start hiring managers, whether it's a COO or a Director of Marketing, you need to let them manage.  When they came on board, they expected to actually run their departments, not serve as an extension of your brilliance.

If you've followed the path of most founders, you started by filling the ranks for marketing, finance, sales and technology.  Soon you realized you could use operational help, and maybe even a CEO or President.

Now all of those people are in place, and the only thing they don't really need is you.  It's not that you're slow or incapable, it's that they want you to take the training wheels off and run this thing on their own.  There's nothing more annoying than a founder who wants everyone to work hard yet restricts their freedom to operate.

In this case, it's time to let management do their job and manage.  The more latitude you give them, the more performance you'll see.  The worst thing you can do is overmanage talented people. 

The Investors Want You Out

If the situation involves a 3rd party, like investors or a new acquiring company, there are a few ways they are going to tell you they don't want you around anymore. 

Generally speaking, if new people are being added that don't report to you, it's because someone doesn't feel comfortable with you at the helm. 

If you go from being a principal in the organization to "EVP/VP/Director of <insert whatever department that translates to what they think you like to do here>" you can bet they don't want you around much longer.

When an acquiring organization wants you around, they go out of their way to make sure you are positively handcuffed to the organization with bonuses, salary increases and stock. 

When they don't want you around, they don't offer you jack, and they start sliding you off the org chart while calling it a "promotion". 

Said differently, if you're being given more responsibility and control of the organization's destiny, that's a good thing.  If it's less, that's a bad thing.

Your Time is Better Spent Elsewhere

There also comes a time when you probably don't need to be spending all of your time with this company.  Many startup Founders are most useful in the formative stages of the company's growth. 

Later, when you go from being a startup to a small business, your value wanes.

That's the way I am.  When all is chaotic, I'm money.  When it starts to get into project plans, management meetings, and HR issues, I lose interest instantly.  Over time I've learned that there comes a point where my time is better spent elsewhere - so that's what I do.

Some Founders become wonderful managers.  Bill Gates seems to be doing a decent job.  But many lose the ambition and excitement of their early days, and become increasingly ineffective. 

Ideally you want to stay in a situation where you maximize your efficacy every day.  Sometimes that option doesn't exist.  You need to ride out your earn-out, or you need to stay around to make sure no one sends your treasure chest to the bottom of the ocean.

Regardless, it's never too early to start planning your next gig.  You may need that plan sooner than later!