Six signals indicate the dependency has become structural: deals queue behind the founder’s travel schedule; capable new sales hires never reach quota and still escalate every serious conversation; large customers call the founder’s cell phone first; there are no written pricing rules, so every non-standard price is a judgment call from memory; nobody can brief a new person on a major account in ten minutes; and the founder cannot take three consecutive weeks off without decisions sitting untouched. Three or more of these means additional effort from the founder will not move the ceiling.