Max Levchin on when to fire someone

February 11, 2026

All founders will hire the wrong person at some point. When asked what signals he looks for to realize he’s made a hiring mistake, Max responds with a quote from the movie Ronin:

"Whenever there's a doubt, there's no doubt."

He explains:

“When you're staring at a peer - or if you're the CEO, at a direct report - and you catch yourself thinking, I wonder if you're here next year. This person shouldn't be here today. Unfortunately, it's that binary.”

Importantly, this is not the same as hating a person’s guts at times - Max caveats that brilliant people cause that sort of emotional response. Wondering if a person will still be at the company next year is different:

”Boring people, untalented people, not hardworking people, people that don't have the company's best interest in mind, people that are undermining each other. Those people make you think I should have fired you yesterday… No one's ever said I wish I had fired that person later… When there's a doubt, there is no doubt. That's also applicable just about every other situation in life, but in people it's infinitely applicable.”