It sounds like you're in a rough spot. Luckily, it sounds like from what you're talking about that there's a lot you can offer and there's a lot of low hanging

It sounds like you're in a rough spot. Luckily, it sounds like from what you're talking about that there's a lot you can offer and there's a lot of low hanging fruit that can be picked. Here's what I suggest: 1. Find the easiest things to do that will save people time, or fix problems that people have been talking about. Especially useful if founder is one of the people helped. 2. Once you've found some easy things to do (<1wk), figure out which ones you can do without any help, resources, or authority. 3. Do it, and show it to him, or talk it up with the team and save them some time. 4. Tell the founder you've saved people time, and him money. Invest in some of your next ideas to save more time. Don't ask for permission. Just say you're doing it. 5. Success builds on success. One thing I'd definitely point out is sometimes you have to go skunkworks. It doesn't sound like you've been there long and they are harping on you to ship something. You likely have plenty of time to just do some easy things, like automating paperwork or forms. In terms of your staging workflow, again I'd apply concepts that I don't need permission for. Instead of blocking commits to master or even needing a staging branch, you could write some automation that takes a git hash. There's lots of ways to work around needing permissions or official things. Never underestimate the use of a button to do something, rather than typing it into a terminal. It also sounds like you may have people problems. Is your founder stressed? It sounds like he's having a rough time with scaling growth. Find out what is stressing him out at work and use your talent to eliminate it. If all else fails, use FIRE. (and quit.) Good luck.