When You Know the Hard Fix, Do It Now
Hesitation makes a company nervous and political, while even an ugly fix keeps it moving.
The a16z Show · What It Takes to Win as a Founder | Ben HorowitzBen Horowitz, a startup founder who became a venture investor, learned the rule by taking a very bad option without flinching. As chief executive, he took his company public when it was 18 months old with $2 million in trailing revenue and a forecast calling for $75 million. The other choice was bankruptcy, so he did what he could do right then.
His method since then is blunt: run at the problem. When founders get into trouble, he says, they can see what needs to happen. They know "we need to re-architect the product," as Horowitz says, or the head of sales has to go. Then they stall while picturing the fallout, missed numbers, a failed fundraise, an awkward conversation, an empty seat, and a quarter with no one to blame but themselves.
Horowitz argues the costs of acting are real but not as bad as leaving the problem in place. Rebuilding will hurt, and firing will hurt, and he does not pretend otherwise. Staying wrecked hurts more.
Speed matters for a second reason. When a founder hesitates, Horowitz says, "It makes the company nervous. It slows everything down. It creates politics because people try and fill that void." The skill is making a decision confidently even when you do not know if it is right, and making it on time.
To use it, he narrows the question. Do not catalog everything you cannot fix. Ask what is the best choice you have, trust what you see, and do that now. If rebuilding or firing is the best available move, do it even if it looks horrible.
That means facing the conversation you have been avoiding and acting before delay decides for you.
Questions people ask
Does running at the problem mean you will know the decision is correct?
No. He says you still have to make the call without knowing whether it is right, and that confidence is the job. The point is to choose the best available option on time, not to wait until certainty arrives.
How do you fire someone when you know the next quarter will suffer?
Acknowledge the real costs first: a vacancy, a missed quarter, and full responsibility. Then compare them with the cost of keeping a failing leader, which he says is worse. That comparison is what makes the painful move rational.
What if fixing the product means months of painful rework?
Yes, especially the rebuild. He says founders fear it will make fundraising harder, delay features, and cause missed targets. His answer is that avoiding the rebuild leaves the company wrecked anyway, so delay only adds damage.