Imagine building a company from the ground up, pouring your heart and soul into it for years, only to reach a point where you realise it's time to step aside as CEO.  How do you know when it's the right time? How do you navigate that transition while setting the company up for continued success? And what comes next for you as a founder? These are the crucial questions we're diving into today with Evgeny Shadchnev, a founder who has lived through this very journey. Evgeny is an author and co-Founder Makers, a coding bootcamp that has trained thousands of software developers.  After nearly a decade at the helm, he made the difficult decision to step down as CEO in 2020. In our conversation, we talk about the complex emotions and strategic challenges of this process.  Evgeny shares how he knew it was time to move on, the importance of planning ahead, and the pitfalls to avoid when hiring and onboarding a successor. We also discuss the surprising commonality of founder transitions and why they should be seen as a mark of success rather than failure. Evgeny's story illustrates that sometimes the best thing you can do for your company is to get out of the way - and that new adventures await on the other side. … Sponsors Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Personio - all in one HR platform: https://personio.com/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/. You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes.