I was the technical co-founder of my startup so naturally, I became the CTO.
I was great as an individual contributor, but as a team lead, I’ve felt completely lost, demotivated, and feel like I am not the right fit for the job. It’s very taxing and managing people is draining me completely, and none of the projects since we hired more people under me have been delivered on time (months late), which I believe is due to my incompetence.
I don’t feel like I can keep doing this work much longer. I’m an emotional Trainwreck. There’s a lot of knowledge I don’t have and I don’t have time for me to learn. What should I do?
Have you ever thought of having a coach to help you work on your self-esteem and personal development?
Hire a coach or find a mentor as the commenter above me suggested.
If you can’t or won’t, don’t feel bad to step down as CTO and take a position as lead engineer. Not everybody is made to lead and that’s no shame. But as a co-founder you have a responsibility towards the other founders and the company.