For EAs and Founders
When an EA Leaves: The Handover Note
The day an EA leaves is the day a founder finds out what they were actually doing.
Most of an EA's value lives in their head: who's waiting, what was promised, who should never be kept waiting. If it isn't written down, it leaves with them. This is the note to write in your last week.
The goalYour replacement should be able to send tomorrow's update without asking anyone a single question.
1. The three lists, as of today
Everyone currently waiting on your exec. Who, what, since when.
Everything your exec has said they'll do and hasn't yet. What, to whom, due when.
Threads that matter and went silent, with your best guess at why.
2. The rules
- What you answered alone, what you drafted first, what you never touched.
- How your exec likes to be interrupted, and how not.
- The format of the daily update, and when it went out.
3. The people map
- The 10 people who must never wait, and why each one matters.
- People who need a softer tone, a faster reply, or a call instead of an email.
- Introductions in flight: who was introduced to whom, and who still owes a reply.
4. The recurring things
- Monthly and yearly things nobody else remembers: renewals, board prep, investor updates, the birthdays that matter.
- Where things live: folders, shared docs, the label system if there is one.
What doesn't go in the note
Passwords and access codes. Hand those over through your company's password manager or directly to your exec, never in a doc or an email.
The last day
- Walk through the note with your exec or your replacement. Thirty minutes is enough.
- Send one last update: who's waiting, oldest first.
Whoever takes over can start with taking over a founder's inbox. Founders hiring the next EA: the first 30 days with your first EA.
Or let it build the lists
Sidekick Log reads your exec's Gmail and shows who's waiting, what was promised and what went quiet. Read-only, it never sends.