I built a family business from scratch to $200 million. Now I’ve become its bottleneck

Ukraine’s Kormotech has grown from a family-founded pet food company into a business generating $210 million in revenue. Its CEO now says the leadership approach that helped drive that expansion has also become a bottleneck.

Founded in 2003 by a father, his daughter and his son, Kormotech began as a Ukrainian producer of cat and dog food. The family structure was central to the company’s early development, with the son taking over as chief executive in 2008.

From fast decisions to a larger operation

As CEO, he relied on quick decisions and personal intuition. He also rejected lengthy approval processes, favoring a direct approach to running the business. That model supported the company’s development over more than two decades.

Kormotech has since expanded to become one of the world’s top 50 pet food manufacturers, according to the account. Its reported revenue has reached $210 million, marking a substantial transformation from its beginnings as a family-run enterprise.

Leadership becomes a business issue

The company’s scale has changed the significance of its management model. The CEO describes himself as having become a bottleneck, suggesting that the decision-making habits that suited an earlier stage of the business may no longer fit its current size.

The account highlights a common tension in family businesses: a founder or long-serving leader can be instrumental in building the company, while the same concentration of decisions can become a limitation as operations grow. For Kormotech, that leadership challenge now sits alongside its rise in the global pet food industry.