Flourishing Post Breakup

I made my first hiring mistake. In the hundreds of founder interviews I’ve listened to, there is one common mistake I hear all the time. Doone Roisin, the host of the Female Startup Club podcast, always asks founders the same question at the end of the interview: 

 

 

Any guesses what the most common response is?

 

 

 

 

Hearing these responses over and over again has led me to understand how important yet incredibly difficult hiring can be. 

 

I’ve worked at both small and mid-sized companies. Hiring mistakes happened at each. 

 

A bad hire can have negative impacts on the entire team. 

 

Unfortunately, knowing all that in advance did not help me avoid making a bad hiring decision. 

 

But, it did prepare me to act fast. 

 

At this point, the only people I’ve hired are freelancers and consultants. 

 

No one is a full-time or part-time employee besides me. 

 

This week, I broke up with my food scientist. 

 

Before I started working with her, we agreed on the type of feedback she would provide and the timeline. That feedback would then go into the next round of samples. 

Sadly, none of the objectives were met.

 

Last Friday, three weeks after the initial deadline we’d set, she recommended that I add sugar to the muffins 🤨

 

At that moment, it was clear to me that my project was not a priority for her. 

 

It was time to part ways. 

 

Knowing this engagement wasn’t panning out, I started interviewing other food scientists. 

 

At the same time, I continued to work on the next round of samples with my recipe developer, which arrived yesterday. 

 

In a fortunate turn of events...

 

THEY TASTE SO GOOD!!! 

 

I can't believe it. 

 

These are the best muffins I've tried yet!

 

Before I get ahead of myself, there are a few tests that we have to run on the muffins. 

 

Still, this is a big win! 

 

We may have finally hit the breakthrough moment.