Every business, regardless of size or industry, needs three functions to survive and thrive.
You can’t scale what you can’t systematize. And you can’t systematize what you haven’t clearly defined.
Most leaders hire reactively—adding people when they feel overwhelmed without understanding which critical function they’re actually trying to fill. The result? Teams that work hard but don’t work together. Roles that overlap in some areas and leave gaps in others.
The Three Functions That Drive Every Business
Function 1: Someone who gets the customers This is your revenue engine. Marketing, sales, and customer acquisition. Without this function, you have no business.
Function 2: Someone who builds the thing This is your value creation. Product development, service delivery, quality control, and innovation. Without this function, you have nothing to sell.
Function 3: Someone who runs the day-to-day This is your operational backbone. Systems, processes, people management, and execution. Without this function, you have chaos.
Here’s what most leaders miss: These aren’t just job descriptions—they’re the three pillars that hold up everything else.
The Audit Questions
Look at your current team and ask:
Who specifically owns getting customers?
- Who’s responsible when leads dry up?
- Who’s accountable for revenue growth?
- If marketing isn’t working, who fixes it?
Who specifically owns building the thing?
- Who’s responsible for product quality?
- Who’s accountable for innovation and improvement?
- If delivery fails, who owns the solution?
Who specifically owns running the day-to-day?
- Who’s responsible for systems and processes?
- Who’s accountable for team coordination?
- If operations break down, who fixes it?
If you can’t answer these questions with specific names, you’ve found your gap.
What the Audit Reveals
Gap 1: The Founder Bottleneck You’re trying to do all three functions yourself. You’re the sales team, the product team, and the operations team. This works until it doesn’t—and it stops working faster than you think.
Gap 2: The Role Confusion You have people, but their responsibilities overlap or conflict. Your “marketing person” is also handling operations. Your “product person” is also doing sales. Everyone’s helping with everything, which means no one truly owns anything.
Gap 3: The Missing Function You’ve got two functions covered but completely neglected the third. You’re great at building and delivering, but no one’s focused on getting customers. Or you’re good at sales and operations, but innovation has stalled.
Your Next Move
Pick your biggest gap and fill it—either by hiring someone or by clearly assigning responsibility to someone who can own it.
Don’t hire another “helper.” Hire someone who will own one of these three functions completely.
Because the difference between businesses that scale and those that stay stuck isn’t complicated strategy—it’s clarity about who’s responsible for what actually matters.
The audit question: Which function is weakest in your business right now, and what are you going to do about it?