firing well

Keeping the wrong person is a decision you make again every single day you don’t act. Most founders wait too long, out of niceness, and then do it clumsily — and the waiting is the unkind part, not the firing. You can be kind. You cannot be taken for granted.

The cost of waiting isn’t only the one person. It’s the norm everyone else is watching you set. A cofounder who hasn’t submitted numbers for three weeks while nobody says a word has taught the whole team what’s acceptable. A contractor who quietly negotiated himself from twenty-one to thirty-three thousand and met no resistance has taught you something too. Everyone who isn’t emotionally invested in the company takes exactly as much as you let them, and the people who are invested notice every inch you give away.

So accountability has to be real, which means consequences have to be real. Every serious mistake gets one — even if the consequence is just that everyone saw you seriously consider letting someone go. You’ll probably never have to pull the lever. People only need to know that you would. A team where no one is ever at risk is a team that’s quietly stopped telling you the truth; your willingness to act is what keeps the honesty flowing.

When you do act, act early and act clearly. The founders who do this badly are the ones who let it drag for months, let resentment build on both sides, then do it in a panic. Early and direct is the humane version — for the person, who gets to go be useful somewhere that fits, and for everyone who stays and now trusts that standards mean something here. Don’t dress it up and don’t borrow drama from it. Clear, fast, and fair is the whole of it.

Being the nice guy who never acts feels like kindness. It’s the most expensive comfort you can buy, and the team pays for it alongside you.