You just raised Series A. Your board says "hire a VP Marketing." You post the job. Interview 15 candidates over 8 weeks. Make an offer at $180K base + 1% equity. Month 1: Onboarding, learning the product, meeting the team Month 2: Building strategy, creating decks, planning campaigns Month 3: Finally starting execution Month 4: Realize they're not the right fit Now you're stuck. The damage: $200K+ spent (salary + equity + benefits) 4-6 months lost with wrong strategy Team