Episode 5: These Hires Will Kill Your Company

In startup land, everyone acts like hiring’s a cheat code… “just add a rockstar!” But what if that rockstar needs a brief for everything, tanks morale, or burns $280K on vaporware?

In Episode 5 of UnicornPrn, Melissa and Lloyed discuss the hiring disasters that don’t make it to TechCrunch, from corporate dinosaurs who can’t function without minions to vibe hires who vanish before onboarding. 

In this episode, you’ll learn:
✅ Why early-stage hiring is high-stakes and emotionally loaded
✅ The common bad hire archetypes that will quietly (or loudly) kill your company
✅ Red flag checklists to spot bad fits before they destroy your culture
✅ When to hire, when to fire, and how to test-drive before you commit

Hot Takes:
✅ “If you keep hiring for tenure over trajectory, you will become the very thing you set out to disrupt.”
✅ “You need to think about hiring as a fiscally responsible decision.”

Grab your popcorn (and maybe your severance template), because this one’s loaded with red flags, cut-worthy hires, and savage founder truths that'll save your runway from going up in flames.

Tune in. Wake up. Think hard. Build smart.

Contact UnicornPrn

• Find show notes of each episode on UnicornPrn.com - hit subscribe like it owes you money

About our hosts

• Melissa Kwan is Cofounder and CEO of eWebinar, and a 3X bootstrapper who has spent the last 14 years building companies without ever raising a cent of venture capital.
• Lloyed Lobo is a WSJ bestselling author, Cofounder of Boast.AI and Traction founder community, startup advisor, angel investor, board member, and LP in multiple VC funds — he’s seen startup chaos from both sides of the term sheet.
• LinkedIn: Melissa Kwan and Lloyed Lobo
• Instagram: @themelissakwan and @lloyedlobo⁠⁠
• YouTube: @themlissakwan and @StartupTraction
• Subscribe to 'your founder next door' at melissakwan.com, Melissa's bi-monthly newsletter on how to build a company without an abundance of resources and friends in high places.
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