Ask HN: What's it like to fire someone at a startup?
Can someone who's fired or been fired talk about the experience? Do these scenes often turn ugly? What's the best way to go about it? What does it feel like for both sides? I've been on both sides. 1. Understand that if you're in a situation where you have to fire someone, as the manager, it is and was your fault. Your fault for not seeing at the beginning that it wasn't a fit, or your fault for taking someone who had potential and then alienating/de-motivating them along the way. Only with this mindset can you learn not to repeat the same mistake. It's all too easy to just chalk things up to "they were a bad employee" - there are certainly cases where it's not your fault, but I think people tend to vastly underestimate the number of cases where you actually could have changed the outcome. 2. Whether or not the situation turns ugly is up to you. Fire someone unexpectedly and without serious efforts to try to help him/her = possibly ugly. Diplomatically try and help someone work through their issues and only then after a few weeks bring up to issue of them leaving = possibly not ugly. Fire someone who has a 1 year equity cliff after 9 months on the job and give them nothing = ugly. Fire someone who has a 1 year equity cliff after 9 months and give them 9 months of equity + $$ severance in return for signing a release (talk to your lawyer) = much less ugly. 3. Feelings vary and I don't have much to say about them. What about the current mantras of "fire fast", and "culture fit" as the most important quality of an employee. It seems like that doesn't lend itself to working through problems in a deliberate way or taking much responsibilty for the hiring process. To me, honestly, it sounds like throw a bunch of shit at the wall as fast you can as see what sticks. Trendy bullshit advice or truth to it? I think you are misinterpreting that advice. I have always heard the full saying as "hire slow, fire fast" and if you are seeking to build a good culture, you probably want to keep turnover reasonable low. Seeing many people come and go will wear on the people you chose to keep, and it will be counter productive to building a good culture. Obviously good is a bit subjective when it comes to "culture" but I assume you are aiming at least for an environment where people are somewhat happy and strive to be productive. How is that inconsistent with any of my advice? The fastest way to get someone out the door cleanly is to offer a generous severance package. Culture fit is something you should have selected against when hiring them in the first place.