Watch of for the point when your communication style has to change.

O&B is now at about 75 people. It's come as a violent shock to me several times that a lot of people, even those closest to me in the management team, didn't know or understand what direction I wanted the company to go. It's led to a lot of very bad arguments within the management team, since many felt that I've made unilateral decisions that affect them greatly, without consulting them or preparing them.

I've been in the mindset where there were just so few of us, all in the same room, and we'd see each other so often (too often), that we knew what each other was thinking most of the time. There wasn't any effort needed to inform each other of our plans. In just a couple of years, this is no longer the case, and it's only lately that I've realized so.

So now making decisions involves more preparation. It used to feel like just a steady hike up a solid trail. Now it feels like I'm walking through a knee-deep muddy marsh - and I need a staff to poke where I plan to take the next step, to make sure I have sure footing when I land my foot there. Decision-making has become more slow-going, but then again the organization as a whole is doing so much more. So even if I personally feel that it now takes more effort for me to get things done, more is being done by the entire organization.

It's important for an entrepreneur to watch for that point when communication shifts from being effortless to having more effort. That's the time when you have to start designing structures and protocols to make sure people continue to know what's on your mind and are with you in your decisions.