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Comment by asilia | Hacker News Reader

Thank you for this response. What did you do with those "mediocre" types—did you let them go ASAP? If not, do you wish you had let them go earlier?

If you were in my situation, would you generally assume the company is probably a goner and look elsewhere (even if the product is/could be good)?

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Fire them fast. However, I wouldn't go that far to say Company is a goner. That depends on quickly the founders and management team fixes the mistakes. The thing is that company may not die (mine didn't) but it wont grow fast if you dont have the right team at the minimum.

You mentioned you are not the founder or have decision making power. In that case, you need to see what the founder(s) feel. If they are ok with mediocrity, it will creep in further. I always say that the team's urgency by default is always 0.5x of the founders. So if the founders themselves are relaxed, it will get worse.

Thank you. One founder has urgency for himself, but not for the rest of us—he is laid-back with employees and doesn't really seem to discipline anyone. The other seems very hands off.

I'm just so frustrated. It's annoying to see what could be a good product get waylaid like this.

And from a selfish perspective, I'm wondering if I should move on now despite only working there for a few months (looks bad on resume) or push through for a while. What would you do?

If you like working with the founders and the product is good, I suggest you speak to them first and raise your concern. Leaving without trying to get this addressed with the founders doesnt sound like a good move.

Ultimately, you should decide what team you want to be part of but don't make decision abruptly either.

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