Here’s the thing no one says out loud: if you’re reporting to a founder, you’re reporting to someone who loves your work but doesn’t have the bandwidth (or playbook) to actually enable you, or manage your growth. That’s where you have to show up for yourself. I’ve been reporting to CMOs, CEOs, and founders for most of my career, so managing up was mission critical early on for me.
These aren’t vibes or high-level frameworks. These are tactics I’ve used, broken, and rebuilt across five startups.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how it has to be so hard to find yourself in this situation for the first time (especially in a remote environment). I’ve got some tips I’ve learned the hard way over the years on how to get the feedback, the credit, and the clarity you need, even when your boss’s calendar doesn’t have space for you for three more weeks.
Managing Up 101 (The CEO Context)
“Managing up” isn’t corporate fluff; it’s owning a relationship your founder never asked you to manage. Your boss didn’t hire you to babysit procedures; they hired you to drive results while they’re triaging late-night alerts, rewriting onboarding copy, and fielding VC intros.
Research shows most executives spend under 10% of their time on direct reports, creating a feedback vacuum you must fill. In my experience, if you report to a tech founder, you’re getting way less than that.
Treat this dynamic like your flagship project. Map your boss’s true north: what outcomes keep them up at 2a? Then be intentional with your check-ins. Plan for every interaction to operate like a roadmap checkpoint—identify the objective, show progress, and get a decision or feedback where needed.
Over time, you’ll mirror their playbook: ruthless, data-driven, outcome-focused. Also, cluster your updates. Batch topics into a weekly summary instead of scatter-pinging. Push metrics into their preferred channels: Notion embeds, Slack updates, brief dashboards, whatever.
Quantify the chaos. When they give you a 30-minute slot, it’s not charity; it’s a vote of confidence in your ability to manage yourself.
Earn Trust with a High Say:Do Ratio
Consistency is your secret weapon. (Shoutout Brian Bell for teaching me this lesson!) Nothing builds credibility faster than flawless follow-through: acknowledging requests fast, tracking everything, and delivering before anyone asks. These micro-wins compound.
Your say:do ratio, aka, what you promise vs. what you actually deliver, is built by treating every small commitment like an SLA. If you say “feedback by 3p today,” you hit it or update early. Executives hate surprises. This ritual of reliability buys you autonomy. And conversely, if your exec has to chase you for an update, you’ve already lost trust.
Speak Your Boss’s Language
Communication is only as good as it is received. If your update lands in a wall of text, it might as well not exist. What you say matters, but so do where and how you say it.
Start with their metrics. You know what business objectives are keeping your boss up at night (and if you don’t, there’s another blog post somewhere that you need to read before this one). Contextualize every update with that knowledge.
Then, put your message where they’ll see it, and be able to actually take it in.
Here’s an example: I have a weekly 1:1 with my boss, Builder.io’s founder and CEO, Steve Sewell. On the morning of our 1:1 I send him a prioritized agenda. It’s scannable, contains relevant links to Notion tickets, Google docs, Slack threads, or whatever else he might need if he wants deeper context. But I also make it so that he doesn’t need that extra context. I give him:
- What the agenda item is — including persona, funnel stage, and current status
- Relevant links
- Clear actions I need from him
I also put the items that need his actions at the top of the agenda. I know we’ll both have driven the conversation down 7 ADHD rabbit holes before we get to item 2, so I prepare for that in how I write the list.
Lead with the punchline. Add context. Bold the ask.
Study their style like an anthropologist. If they’re data-first, open with stats. If they lean narrative, start with the story. When you match their input style, your signal cuts through the noise.
Bring Solutions, Not Just Problems
Executive attention is scarce. Don’t waste it.
When you bring a problem, always come with (ideally) two paths forward and your recommendation.
“Conversion to sign-up is at 12%. We can A) tweak CTA copy for a 5% bump (link to proven CTAs), or B) write a new tutorial to target X high-intent term and hopefully earn rank in 2 months. I recommend A. Thoughts?”
This turns you into a solution architect, not a fire alarm. It lets your boss stop troubleshooting and start approving. Used consistently, it speeds up everything.
Get the Mentorship You Need
Real talk: a busy CEO isn’t a reliable coach. You have to engineer growth.
This is where you have to leverage your network, or push forward to build the one you need. None of us can grow in a vacuum. Find your pod of 3–4 mentors who can provide advice, coaching, and feedback loops. I’m so lucky to have a surfeit of awesome folks like this in my network, and these are relationships I pay attention to and nurture.
Don’t be afraid to look outside your direct domain. I’ve found that engineering leaders often provide really useful feedback on team management and leadership. Their styles can be different from GTM, but highly effective. Also, use your peers! I lean heavily on my peer-leaders. They’re close to your problems and know your people. Startups sometimes formalize this into peer coaching. You can DIY a lighter version today.
When Managing Up Isn’t Enough
This post assumes your boss is busy but well-intentioned. If they’re consistently stonewalling, undermining, or denying credit, it’s not on you.
Document the pattern. Explore lateral moves. Plan your exit. Founders who refuse to delegate often stall team growth. Don’t wait forever.
So, What’s Next?
Managing up isn’t about playing the game. It’s about making sure you don’t get stuck waiting for someone else to play it for you.
And if you’ve got managing-up wins or disasters, HMU on LinkedIn. Let’s learn from each other.
Your move.