July 31, 2025

Why Startup Exec Hires Fail — Avoid €250K Mistakes with Diagnostic Hiring

29 minutes

What if every second leadership hire in your startup fails — costing you up to €250,000? In this episode of Startuprad.io, we uncover why so many startup executive hires flop and how diagnostic hiring is rewriting the rules of leadership selection.

What You'll Learn:

Why more than 50% of startup VP and C-level hires fail within 18 months

The real-world cost of a mis-hire (severance, lost growth, founder burnout)

How behavioral and cognitive assessments outperform gut-feel interviews

How to avoid founder bias when hiring for your first VP or CSO

The "First VP Dilemma" — resume readiness vs. real potential

What top-performing startup leaders actually have in common

Hiring timelines in the DACH region and how to plan around long notice periods

Why culture-fit and self-assessment tools often fail founders

Guest Spotlight:

Dominik Roth, founder of the DACH #1 leadership podcast CEO Career Code, has placed over 400 executives in VC- and PE-backed startups across Europe. He’s not your typical headhunter — he’s a psychologist-turned-strategist using diagnostics to predict executive performance before a mis-hire burns your runway.

Like what you hear? Follow Startuprad.io for more deep dives into European startup growth. Subscribe on Spotify and Apple Podcasts — and leave us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review if this saved you from your next €250K mistake.

Guest Name: Dominik Roth, Founder of CEO Career Code

Blog Post: https://www.startuprad.io/post/startup-executive-hiring-avoiding-costly-leadership-mistakes

Youtube Full Video: https://youtu.be/iDqQo48u0Ls

Timestamps:

00:00 – Why 50% of Startup Executive Hires Fail

02:15 – The €250K Mistake: What a Bad Hire Really Costs

05:40 – Gut Feel vs. Diagnostic Hiring Explained

09:10 – The First VP Dilemma: Resume vs. Readiness

12:30 – Founder Bias and Emotional Hiring Mistakes

16:50 – How to Use Behavioral and Cognitive Assessments

21:15 – Hiring for Startups in the DACH Region

26:30 – Patterns of High-Performing Startup Leaders

28:43 – Dominik’s Mission to Change Hiring in Europe

✉️ Work with us: [email protected]

💬 Feedback: https://forms.gle/Qp53eVuc9P1RMqWj8

💼 Follow Jörn on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/comm/mynetwork/discovery-see-all?usecase=PEOPLE_FOLLOWS&followMember=joernmenninger

startup podcast, startup executive hiring, startup growth strategies, DACH startup leadership, venture capital insights, founder hiring mistakes, diagnostic hiring, scaleup leadership, B2B tech startups, startup burnout

...more