Startup Culture – Fire Fast
Nothing is more damaging to a startup’s culture than a rotten apple. Therefore, the second item on our culture list is “Fire fast”, which is the complement to “Hire slow.” It’s harder than it sounds.
To me, letting someone go is hard because:
- It could be an indicator of poor hiring processes
- It could be an indicator of poor management
- Both the company and the employee have invested a non-trivial amount of time and energy in relocation and training
- Rapport between friends could be damaged
- Finding someone else is going to take time and energy
The worst situations are the ones in which you are unsure of yourself, whether or not to let someone go. Our management team has gone through that feeling several times. In each case, we felt good about the decision after the fact. We often (especially in the early days of the company) wish we had made the decision sooner than we did.
For us, letting someone go has not always been due to poor performance. Rather, sometimes the pivots of our small company take the ship in a direction wherein people onboard are no longer suited to the winds of the day. In those situations, we have given generous 1-2 month leeways so that employees have been able to find other jobs before leaving.
So my advice is to suck-it-up and make the tough calls when they need to be made. But do so softly and with a big heart towards those affected.
What guidelines do you follow when decided whether or not to let someone go? Do you act quickly, or do you hem-and-haw longer than you should?