Employee departures are tough, but can refresh and refocus a company

This week I let go of a third of the team.

I have been thinking for some time now Is this really the right talent? or Although the person is not yet performing, will s/he adapt soon? or What if not, should I fire him/her right away?

In my experience, 2-4 months are a good time to understand whether a specific talent is a general fit or not. For example, in sales it's more straight forward to assess whether a person is performing well than in other disciplines such as engineering, which sometimes needs more training time.

"Hire slow, fire quickly" is a common phrase in the context of managin teams and after having been through this process now I can only confirm it. What I, too, underestimated is the effect of low performers on the rest of the team.

Especially for software companies with minimal tangible assets, the team is the primary differentiator. Protect its culture at all costs.