The Departure Theory: scale by letting go

The Departure Theory: scale by letting go

Change requires release. At £1m–£10m, the thing slowing you down isn’t effort. It’s the weight you refuse to drop.

You feel it already:

  • Revenue stalls while workload climbs
  • Deals slip because “we still support that old thing”
  • Founder hours vanish into customer drama and admin
  • Margin is thin, yet the calendar is full
  • Everyone is busy; few are effective

This is not a motivation problem. It’s a subtraction problem.

What the Departure Theory means in business

Thinking: growth needs space. Behaviour: audit, cut, re-commit. Attitude: calm, firm, data-led. Outcome: lighter load, faster sales, clearer focus.

You don’t need to burn the house down. You need to stop carrying furniture you no longer use.

The Departure Ledger (simple, one page)

Create a sheet with these columns:

Item | Keep | Fix | Drop | Test | Why | Owner | By when | Metric | Kill rule | Contribution margin (last 90d) | Concentration impact (Top-3 % if dropped)

  • Keep: high margin, clear ICP fit, clean handoffs
  • Fix: worth saving but blocked (pricing, packaging, process)
  • Drop: fails the rules below
  • Test: 10-day experiment to prove it belongs in Keep or Drop

Clear rules for dropping (no drama, just numbers)

Customers

  • LTV:CAC < 2:1 after 6 months, or
  • Support hours > 2h per £1k revenue, or
  • DSO > 45 days and rising → Renegotiate, hand off, or exit

 

Products / Packages

  • Contribute < 15% of revenue and < 10% gross margin, or
  • Consume > 20% of roadmap capacity with low NPS → Unbundle, sunset, or move to partner

 

Channels

  • CAC > target by 30% for 4 straight weeks, or
  • Lead→SQO < 20% after 200 touches → Pause, fix the offer, or kill

 

Meetings

  • No owner, no pre-read, no decision in 30 minutes → Cancel. Replace with a doc + async comments

 

Founder tasks

  • Not Only I can do + > 2h/week + repeats weekly → Document → delegate → delete

Don’t cut blind (quick de-risk checklist)

Before you drop anything, run these ten checks:

  1. Contribution margin by product/client (include success/support time)
  2. Contract terms (termination, notice, SLA, MFN, rev-rec impact)
  3. Concentration after the cut (keep Top-3 customers < 35%)
  4. Seasonality & cycle (don’t cut 4–6 weeks before peak)
  5. Shared dependencies (APIs, compliance, tooling, bundles)
  6. Comms pack ready (internal → key accounts → public)
  7. Redeploy plan for freed capacity (what replaces it, when)
  8. Reputation buffer (refund/credit, migration, partner SLA/indemnity)
  9. Lender/board touch if covenants reference trailing revenue
  10. Ledger entry logged (owner, date, metric, kill rule)

 

48-hour action plan

1) Calendar cut Delete recurring meetings that made no decision last month. Add two 90-min focus blocks daily. Non-negotiable.

2) Revenue inventory Rank customers by contribution margin and support hours. Draft three moves: increase price, tighten scope, handoff.

3) Product call List every package. Mark the zombies. Pick one: sunset, archive, move to partner. Set a date.

4) Channel sanity Pull 30-day CAC, Reply→SQO, and SQO→Close per channel. Pause one loser for 10 days. Move that spend to the winner.

5) Founder glue Write your top five repeating tasks. Choose two to delegate this week. Book the handover.

Ready-to-use comms scripts

Customer exit (respectful + options)

Hi [Name], we’re simplifying our product line to focus on what drives the best outcomes. Your current package [X] will reach end-of-life on [date]. Two options:

Team redeploy (calm, clear, adult)

We’re retiring [X] and exiting [Y]. They drain margin and slow delivery. This frees time for [Z], which pays us and our customers back. No one is punished for legacy. We’ll redeploy skills to [A/B]. If your work is affected, you’ll have a 1:1 today. Thank you for helping us grow up.

Mini proof-stack (how this looks when it works)

Before (90 days)

  • Contribution margin: 31%
  • DSO: 41 days
  • Time to first value: 14 days
  • 27% delivery time spent on legacy package

Move

  • Sunset legacy package; 60% uprated, 40% to partner with SLA
  • Hired no one; redeployed two FTE to onboarding acceleration

After (next 90 days)

  • Contribution margin: 38% (+7 pts)
  • DSO: 36 days (−5)
  • Time to first value: 9 days (−5)
  • Delivery time on legacy: 0%

 

EQ / IQ / SQ / AQ 10-minute drills

EQ (name the fear): “If we drop X, I’m afraid ____.” Share with SLT; ask for one counter-fact. IQ (decision rule): “If contribution margin <15% and support >2h/£1k for 60 days → Drop/Partner.” SQ (reputation): List top five reference customers. Don’t touch until two replacements are secured. AQ (adapt): 10-day A/B redeploy: freed capacity to onboarding acceleration vs outbound. Publish the result.

What to watch in 30 days

  • Contribution margin: +5–8 pts
  • Founder ops hours: −30% (track via calendar tags)
  • Top-3 customer concentration: <35% post-cut
  • DSO: hold or ↓ (no cash crunch after changes)
  • Time to first value: −20%

 

If none move: you trimmed the edges. Go back to the ledger and take a bigger cut.

Why this matters

You don’t scale by adding more. You scale by making space for what works.

Operator first. Coach second. I’ve carried the number, now I help you hit yours.

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