Case study · Validate · Rapid System Read^™ / Build · People System Build / Resolve · HR Investigation and Resolution

“Don’t worry. I’ve got the tech covered.”

He meant it as reassurance. It was anything but.

A 45-person technology business had secured Series A funding and was in active conversations about Series B. But a critical part of the business depended on one person. Culture Craft helped the founder make that dependency visible, reduce the risk and secure a codebase handover before the next funding round.

The situation

The founder knew he wasn’t technical. He’d hired someone who was, trusted them to lead the technical side of the business, and focused on growing the company.

Two years later, the business was 45 people strong, Series A funding was secured, and Series B conversations were under way.

But whenever the founder asked about the technology, the answer was consistent: “Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered.”

The founder had no clear view of how much control sat with one person. Code repositories, access credentials, architecture decisions and security arrangements were not sufficiently visible or accessible to the wider business.

A bus factor of one, at the heart of a technology business preparing for its next funding round.

What we did

Culture Craft worked alongside the founder to establish where the dependency sat and how exposed the business really was.

We framed the work around normal leadership accountability, seeking repository summaries, a security audit and visibility of the systems in use. These were reasonable requests designed to establish whether the business had the access, oversight and resilience it needed.

What we found

Critical access sat with one person

The information returned was incomplete, and access remained difficult to obtain. The business did not have the visibility it needed over important parts of its technical infrastructure.

The team lacked the access it needed

Separate conversations with engineers highlighted frustration around tools they could not fully access and decisions they had little involvement in.

A technical capability had become a business risk

The issue was bigger than one person’s expertise. The business lacked sufficient visibility and control over a critical part of its own operations, creating a risk that could have become acute during due diligence or a leadership departure.

The results

Culture Craft worked with the founder to reduce the dependency before the situation escalated.

• The business was better positioned to manage the risk when resistance to greater transparency became more pronounced.
• Culture Craft supported the founder through the CTO’s exit and a settlement that secured the handover of the codebase.
• The dependency was addressed ahead of the next funding round.
• The business subsequently secured its Series B funding.

The process came at a cost. Leaving the dependency unresolved could have cost considerably more.