One of the Most Traumatic Business Experiences of My Life

2016. I'm staring at a spreadsheet with 150 names on it.

My company was bleeding money. Revenue had collapsed. The math was brutal and undeniable.

We had to cut from 150 employees to 45.

105 people would lose their jobs. 105 families affected. 105 of the hardest conversations I'd ever have to have.

This was one of the most traumatic business experiences of my life.

But what I learned from that hell changed everything about how I think about teams, performance, and what really matters in a company.

The system I built to make those decisions became the foundation for building the best team I've ever had.

So we built a system. A ruthless, objective framework that separated emotion from data.

By the end, I knew exactly who belonged on the bus and who didn't.

The Framework That Saved Our Company

When you're forced to keep only the essential people, you discover what "essential" actually means.

It's not about tenure. It's not about titles. It's not even about being likeable.

It's about three things: Performance, Capability, and Alignment.

I used three tools from the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) that turned this nightmare decision into a clear, defendable process:

1. Technical Performance Scorecard 2. GWC Assessment 3. People Analyzer Matrix

Each person got evaluated on all three. The data told me who stayed.

Tool 1: Technical Performance Scorecard

This is the easiest part. How are they actually performing at their job?

Sales guy: How many deals are they closing?
Finance person: How accurate and timely are their reports?
Customer service rep: What's their resolution rate and customer satisfaction?

Every role has measurable outcomes. No exceptions.

I scored everyone 1-5 on their core job responsibilities. If someone was consistently scoring 1-2, they weren't essential.

This eliminated about 30% of the decisions immediately.

Tool 2: GWC Assessment (Gets It, Wants It, Can Do It)

This is where most founders f*ck up layoffs. They only look at current performance, not future potential.

GWC evaluates three critical factors:

Gets It: Do they understand the role, the company, and what's expected?
Wants It: Do they actually want to do this job, or are they just collecting a paycheck?
Can Do It: Do they have the mental, physical, and emotional capacity to excel?

All three must be "yes" or they don't belong.

I found people who were good at their current role but didn't "get" where the company was headed. I found others who "got it" and could "do it" but clearly didn't "want it" anymore.

If any of the three was missing, they were gone.

Tool 3: People Analyzer Matrix (The Culture Filter)

This was the most revealing tool. And the one most founders skip.

I created a matrix: Our 4 core values across the top, all employees down the side.

Our core values:

• Extreme Passion
• Absolute Respect
• Fast and Efficient Resolution
• Customer Devotion

Then I scored every single person 1-5 on how well they embodied each value.

The results were shocking.

Some of our highest technical performers scored 2s and 3s on culture alignment. They were getting results, but they were toxic to the team.

Others who were decent performers scored 4s and 5s across all values. They were the cultural backbone of the company.

Culture beats skill when you're building for the long term.

The Right People in the Right Seats

This comes from Jim Collins' "Good to Great." You want the right people in the right seats.

Right Seat = GWC + Technical Performance
Are they in the correct role with the right seniority, doing work they can excel at?

Right People = Culture Alignment
Do they belong on this bus, going to this destination, with these values?

Both must be true, or they don't stay.

What I Discovered About "Essential" Employees

After running 150 people through this framework, patterns emerged:

The Obvious Keeps:

• High technical performance + High culture alignment + Strong GWC
• These were easy decisions. Rock stars who belonged.

The Obvious Cuts:

• Low technical performance + Low culture alignment + Weak GWC
• Also easy. They shouldn't have been there anyway.

The Tough Decisions:

• High technical performance + Low culture alignment
• Low technical performance + High culture alignment

Here's what I learned: In a crisis, culture alignment beats technical skills.

Why? Because you can train skills. You can't train values.

The people with strong culture alignment worked harder to fill gaps. They stepped up. They covered for missing roles. They kept morale up during the hardest time in company history.

The high performers with poor culture alignment? They became bigger problems when stress increased.

The Selection Process That Removed All Emotion

Here's exactly how I made the decisions:

Step 1: Score everyone 1-5 on technical performance
Step 2: Evaluate everyone on GWC (Yes/No for each)
Step 3: Score everyone 1-5 on each core value
Step 4: Calculate total scores and rank order
Step 5: Draw the line at 45 people

Anyone below the line was gone. No exceptions.

This removed politics, favoritism, and gut feelings. The data decided.

The people who stayed weren't necessarily the ones I liked most. They were the ones the company needed most.

The Aftermath: Why This Framework Works

Six months later, I knew I'd made the right decisions.

The 45 people who remained:

• Worked harder and smarter than the original 150
• Had zero culture problems or toxic behavior
• Stepped up to fill multiple roles without complaining
• Helped us rebuild faster and stronger

The company didn't just survive. It thrived.

Revenue per employee nearly doubled. Decision-making got faster. Meetings became more productive. The energy completely shifted.

We didn't just cut fat. We kept muscle.

How to Build Your Own Selection Framework

Step 1: Define Your Core Values: What 3-4 values are non-negotiable for your company?

Step 2: Create Performance Scorecards: What are the 3-5 key metrics for each role?

Step 3: Build Your People Analyzer Matrix: Score every team member 1-5 on each core value.

Step 4: Run GWC Assessments: Honestly evaluate: Do they get it, want it, and can do it?

Step 5: Rank Order Your Team: Combine all scores. See who rises to the top.

Do this before you need it. Don't wait for a crisis to figure out who's essential.

Final Reality Check

Downsizing taught me something most founders learn too late:

Half your team probably shouldn't be there anyway.

They're not bad people. They're just not the right people for your specific bus, going to your specific destination.

The framework doesn't just work for layoffs. It works for every hiring and firing decision.

Use it to evaluate new candidates. Use it to assess current team members. Use it to identify who needs development and who needs to go.

Stop making people decisions based on feelings. Start making them based on data.

Ready to stop making costly business decisions based on guesswork? Join 9 other founders and get coached by me, hands-on.

My Founder Accelerator Group helps you create frameworks for every critical decision. Expert-led coaching (by me) for founders scaling from $250K to $3M.

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What you get:

• One quarterly goal-setting workshop to cut through chaos and focus on what matters
• Two monthly tactical coaching sessions for real problems and execution challenges
• Daily Slack support with me and 9 other committed founders
• Personalized performance dashboards to track real progress
• Expanding library of frameworks and systems that prevent costly mistakes

Limited to 10 founders per cohort. No theory. Just proven systems that turn scattered efforts into strategic execution.

→ Apply for Founder Accelerator Group

Stop guessing who belongs on your team. Start knowing.

- Ignacio

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