“It isn’t the people you fire who make your life miserable, it’s the people you don’t.” Harvey Mackay

A couple weeks ago, we wrote about the importance of finding help when building your company. But sometimes when you find help, you find the wrong people. Cutting ties with a wrong-fit employee is one of the hardest things to do for any manager, but not doing it can destroy your start-up and make you miserable as Harvey Mackay mentions.

There are a few facts about hiring in a start-up:

• Some people are made for start-ups
• Some people aren’t made for start-ups
• And some people think they are made for start-ups, but they aren’t

Start-up life is hard work and has its own culture when compared to any other type of employment. A successful hire is often forced to work in strained environments without a lot of support. Some people strive in this environment, and others crash-and-burn.

As the manager/owner, your job is to determine if they are keepers or deadweight. At a start-up, you can’t be in the business of grooming talent. There are too many things to do and too many roles to fill. Cut your deadweight quickly and save yourself the headaches.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under General Business, Management, Recruiting, Start-up Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.