Don’t Hire Friends—Just Give Them the Money (and Avoid the Drama)
Look, it’s 2025, and the startup world hasn’t magically fixed the age-old trap of hiring friends. If anything, with AI automating so much grunt work, the stakes are higher: your team needs to be sharp, reliable, and laser-focused—not caught up in friendship drama or excuses. The brutal truth? Hiring friends rarely works out well, and if you’re feeling generous, just cut them a check instead.
Here’s why hiring friends is a rookie mistake that keeps tripping up entrepreneurs:
Emotional baggage clouds judgment. You start behind the eight ball because their “sob story” or your personal loyalty skews your hiring decisions. Their priority isn’t building your business; it’s getting paid. That’s a conflict of interest that will cost you time, money, and sanity.
Expectations get twisted. Friends often think you owe them favors beyond their job description—like running errands, handling their banking, or bending over backward to accommodate their quirks. In 2025, with instant payments and AI-driven payroll, there’s zero excuse to be their personal assistant.
Accountability suffers. It’s hard to fire a friend, so you end up tolerating missed deadlines, half-hearted work, or excuses that would sink any other employee. This compromises your company culture and drags down your whole team.
One example? I hired a friend who was talented but refused to set up simple digital payment methods like PayPal or Zelle. So I was stuck physically going to the bank, standing in line, and basically doing her job for her. In 2025, that’s not just inconvenient—it’s a red flag. I finally told her to get with the program or I’d have to cut her loose.
With AI tools now handling recruitment, onboarding, and performance tracking, there’s no excuse to let personal feelings cloud your hiring decisions. Your first hires should be strategic, skilled, and professional—not emotional obligations.
If you want to help a friend, just give them the money and keep your business and personal lives separate. Your startup’s survival depends on it.
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Kevin "KevRoss" Ross is a music and radio industry expert. He is a 20 -plus year entrepreneur with the leading most successful industry trade publication and site Radio Facts (www.radiofacts.com). He has also published various books, magazines, performed marketing and promotions for major corporations and recording artists and he is on the advisory board of several industry organizations. This year Ross introduced his non profit organization LOMARI (Leaders of the Music and Recording Industry) to help teach young minority students how to market and manage their music and products.
