(Originally appeared on my Indie Hackers blog)

This was perhaps the most important lesson I learned from being a solo founder.

As the founder and CEO of a small business, you are the end of the line. There is no one else to think for you, or hold your hand. There’s no safety net.

If there’s some critical action that is necessary for your business to survive, and you didn’t think of it.. then that’s too bad. No one else is going to think of that and let you know (for free).

Looking back, I feel great empathy for my previous bosses who founded the small companies I worked for. I had a shallow understanding of what it must be like, but I never truly grasped the burden of being the end of the line.