Essay · 12 min read

It's Never Too Early to Fire

Lars Dalgaard · Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Free Intermediate

Dalgaard, who founded SuccessFactors and sold it to SAP for 3.7 billion dollars, makes the case you need to actually pull the trigger: he has never fired anyone too early. His sharpest point is exactly your five-person problem, junior people spot the mis-hire before you do, and every week you tolerate it they lose faith in your judgment and the best ones start eyeing the door. Read it when you are still hoping it works itself out; it will not.

  • Most performance problems are visible within about two weeks, so your gut at 60 days is not premature, it is late
  • Your team sees the bad hire before you admit it; tolerating it signals weak leadership and pushes your best people out
  • Do it with dignity, but the cost of waiting (lost momentum, eroded trust) always exceeds the discomfort of acting now
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The question it answers

  1. How do I fire my first bad hire fast and cleanly without blowing up a five-person team?

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