"We Need to Hire"- The $280K Lie Founders Tell Themselves

We need to hire more people - yesterday! the founder declared, sliding his revenue forecast across my desk. His software business had doubled to $12M ARR, and surely that meant building out his team and taking over the world...

But in his voice, I heard what every good listener should look for when big decisions are being made: doubt.

'Before we talk hiring,' I asked, 'what have you tried instead?'

His answer? Nothing.

No process mapping. No automation. No training. No restructuring. Just straight to:

'We need more heads. We have the money coming in, and there is too much business for us to handle.'

This is where I see intelligent leaders waste hundreds of thousands in unnecessary hires. They treat hiring as the default solution rather than a serious commitment that can do more damage than help if done without clarity.

So, We Took a Step Back & Found the Real Problem(s)

After 2 days assessing things objectively, I discovered:

✔ 30% of time was wasted searching for information that should have been documented.

✔ Manual data entry was eating up productive hours.

✔ Junior staff were handling complex decisions without frameworks or guidelines.

✔ Work was being duplicated across departments.

The Hard Truth: Hiring Before You're Ready Is Costly.

A premature hire that ends poorly doesn’t just cost the person’s salary. It signals the boss is not in control, damages team morale, and burns cash you could have invested in making the business resilient with or without any one employee.

The Fix: Before Hiring, We Built the Right Systems

Instead of posting another LinkedIn job ad for a role that would’ve been undefined or repetitive (like many we see here), we spent three weeks fixing the basics:

✅ Built proper documentation

✅ Automated 30% of admin tasks

✅ Created decision frameworks

✅ Restructured team responsibilities

✅ Implemented proper change management

The outcome? His existing team suddenly had 60% more capacity. The ‘urgent’ hires could wait six months, saving the business $280K in potentially wasted salaries and who knows how much time.

Are You Really Ready to Hire?

Here's what we know: 70% of the founders I work with discover they don't need new hires - they need better systems. The other 30%? They end up making completely different hires than they originally planned.

Which one are you? and what is your next move?

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