Every startup begins with a founder’s vision as an innovator — but maintaining that same identity can become a liability as the company scales. Founders who fail to shift their identity in stages from innovator to business builder to leader risk losing momentum, culture, and even their company. The Blindspotting model helps entrepreneurs see when their identity needs to evolve to match the stage of growth they’re in.
Startups are often born from a founder’s identity.
A founder sees a gap in the market, builds something from nothing, and pours their sense of self into bringing the business to life. That early identity — the innovator, the disruptor, the hero — drives long hours and bold decisions.
But that same identity, if left unchecked, becomes a blindspot — a roadblock to continued success.
As Blindspotting author Martin Dubin writes:
Identity misalignment in startups often happens “as the company grows and shifts.” The business no longer needs an innovator — it needs a builder. Later, it doesn’t need a builder — it needs a leader.
That shift is where many founders stall.
They keep showing up as the person who started the business, not the person it now needs to lead it. They are grappling with an identity blindspot.
Explore the Identity Blindspot
As startup companies generally experience three main phases of evolution, so does the startup founder’s identity.
1. The Innovator
The startup stage demands relentless invention — testing, failing, and creating. The founder’s energy and creativity are the company’s lifeblood. In this phase, the founder has to execute rapidly and sustain momentum for iterating their product or service until it proves viable for market.
The identity of innovators is often tied to:
To bring the vision of the company to life, the founder has to wear nearly every type of hat — from product development to sales to customer service.
2. The Business Builder
Once the product finds traction, innovation isn’t enough. The company needs process, consistency, and people. The founder’s role becomes about building a business, not just a product. In this phase, the founder is tasked with creating processes and systems that can scale as the business grows.
The identity of builders is often tied to:
This is the stage when founders must learn to measure success through team output rather than personal output alone.
3. The Leader
Finally, long-term success requires both high-level vision and effective delegation. The founder must empower others, and learn to not control everything. This is often the hardest identity shift of all — from hero to coach.
In this stage, leaders need to know when to step back with confidence that the company can thrive without their involvement in every aspect of the business.
The identity of leaders is often tied to:
Dubin notes that even iconic leaders like Bezos, Jobs, and Gates succeeded because they evolved their identities along the way — moving from creator to CEO to visionary leader.
Many founders experience the “Marcus moment” — named for the Blindspotting case study of Marcus, a visionary CEO who couldn’t stop being the innovator.
Marcus loved the early-stage chaos. He was the center of every decision, the hero in every crisis. But as his company grew, that identity stopped serving him. His team didn’t need another idea — they needed a leader who could empower theirs.
As Dubin writes,
“He wanted to be the visionary and the hero. But what his company needed was a leader.”
Marcus was operating with an identity blindspot built on old beliefs:
While those beliefs initially supported his success, they were no longer helpful to his role as leader.
When founders cling to outdated identities, they confuse their teams, frustrate executives, and stall growth. The result is often high turnover, missed opportunities, and burnout at the top.
Leaders can understand that their identity needs to shift, but that doesn’t make it easy.
Replacing one identity with another usually feels like a loss — because it is. Founders are shedding parts of their identity they started the company with to make space for what’s needed as the company evolves.
This emotional experience is known as promotion grief: the feelings of loss that accompany the process of transitioning from one role to the next.
These emotions are a normal part of the process. As Martin Dubin says in this Psychology Today article, “Mixed feelings are simply a sign that you’re still in an in-between state.”
Once leaders accept that continued success will come with identity loss, they can start the work of aligning their identity with the stage they’re in.
As a business moves from one growth stage to the next, an identity transition is also in motion.
Growth is always messy; that’s unavoidable. But founders can prepare for the necessary shifts in their identity that will best serve the next growth stage.
“Until you’re in that new role you don’t really know what it’s going to be like. But you can begin to think about the components of it.” –Martin Dubin, PhD, in Identity Webinar: When Your Leadership Identity No Longer Fits Your Role
This is the time to think about:
In this next section, we’ll discuss what this process looks like for founders who want to avoid getting stuck in an identity trap.
1. Recognize what stage you’re in.
Every successful company outgrows its original story, as does its founder. Knowing whether you’re in innovation, scaling, or leadership mode helps to determine what kind of founder identity the business now needs.
2. Reflect on what gives you energy.
Do you still love building? Or are you forcing yourself to lead? Awareness doesn’t mean abandoning your strengths — it means using them intentionally. Consider what identity or identities you associate with the functions you give most of your time and energy to, feel the most gratifying, and are used to measure your success.
3. Identify the Misalignments.
From the previous step, do the activities listed align with your role? Are there elements of your role that you consistently push off or ignore? Identify where the priorities for success in your current role do or don’t align with the activities you give the most time to. The ones that don’t align are tied to your identity blindspots.
4. Get external perspective.
Founders rarely get honest feedback. We need external perspectives to keep our patterns in check. Advisors, coaches, or assessments like Blindspotting’s Self-Awareness Model help reveal when your identity no longer aligns with your role.
5. Choose your next evolution — or your next venture.
Not every founder wants to become a CEO. Awareness gives you the freedom to decide: evolve, delegate, or step aside with clarity.
“Despite the entrepreneurial journey being predictable, it’s a rare founder who understands when identity shifts must occur.” — Martin Dubin, PhD, Blindspotting
Identity isn’t fixed — it’s fluid and shifts with the changing contexts of our lives.
Startups emerge from a founder’s identity of risk-taker and innovator. Yet they can only endure when their founders evolve.
Identity transitions require sacrifice, but they are necessary for founders who want to see their startup succeed.
The Blindspotting framework reminds us that self-awareness is the difference between a founder who scales their company and one who remains the biggest obstacle to achieving their goals.
Read More: When Strengths Become Blindspots
Explore Coaching: Blindspotting for Founders and Executive Teams
Book a Discovery Call: See how the Blindspotting Performance Experience helps leaders evolve at every stage.
