“ I should have hired for my weaknesses far earlier on.”

That is a really helpful insight as well. I had a friend once say “you should never hire anyone smarter than you” and I was aghast. Those are the EXACT people you should hire. Naturally this takes not only a certain amount of security, it also takes a good amount of honest stock-taking. If you don’t have a company full of people who have the capability at some point to strike out on their own and be dangerous competitors, you don’t have the business to compete with.