Ever wonder what it’s like to transition from being a technical Co-Founder to solo Founder and CEO? Meet Luke Beard, CEO and Founder of Exposure, and he’s done just that.

When we sat down with Luke at a recent Meetup, he shared a plethora of lively details surrounding his entrepreneurial story (which you can view here) and one highlight of that conversation was his experience taking over the full company when one of the Co-Founders transitioned out. As Exposure has grown, he’s had to train himself to look at and understand business insights, not just the technical side of things. He shared a few transitional lessons learned with Job Birdsong at an Entrepreneur Meetup at Atlanta Tech Village:

Luke went from being focused on and understanding skill development growth of product to understanding PnLs, churn, and how to manage and grow the business, which is no easy feat.

One of the first things he did as CEO was immediately create a Board of Directors, which now “act as his advisor therapists”. Having a set of advisors (even if it’s your customers) can always provide a sounding board and grounding force.

Luke had to invest in a lot of insight to understand the pulse of the business, not just the pulse of the product. Now he can see where the strong markets are as opposed to just focusing on the technical side of things and throwing money at those developments.

"While extremely daunting to go the solo founder route, it is an advantage to know your business and product inside and out before considering building on hires and contributors. Having clarity on all the problems and challenges ahead can help you tackle them more effectively."