Here’s the question:

Our company has multiple founders – any advice on how to best run a company with so many chefs in the kitchen?

And here’s my answer:

Establish roles and responsibilities before you grow and get money in. Talk it out, write it down, sign it, save it.

And if it’s too late, you’ve already grown and have money, then it’s harder but you still have to do it. You can’t have everybody owning everything. There’s a need for structural and functional expertise.

You’ve heard the quote about democracy being a terrible form of government, but nobody’s found anything better? Well democracy is an even worse way to run a growing company, and structure, dividing roles and responsibilities, and setting definitions, is much better.

This question and answer appeared earlier this week as part of the Nerd Business Blog’s selection of Best of Sprouter: 25 high impact startup answers to remember.

I’m sad to see Sprouter is leaving the web. It was a nice collection of questions and answers about startups. I answered several dozen questions there. It’s not (quite) dead yet, and here’s hoping they pull it out of near death.

At least I did my part.