Why Your Senior Hires Keep Failing (And How to Fix It) | ft. Daniel Moussa

A wrong senior hire can cost a founder-led business 3–5x that person's salary. Daniel Moussa explains how to get it right the first time.

Daniel is the founder of Third Way Advisory, an executive search firm working exclusively with founder-led businesses across Australia and Asia. He and Chloe cover:

• Why a founder-led CEO role is a different job to a corporate CEO
• The "pre-season" hiring process Dan borrows from elite sport
• How to headhunt senior talent who aren't actively looking
• Why senior hires take six months, and how to start early
• How founders stop being the bottleneck in their own business
• Options when you can't yet afford a full-time executive

Connect With Dan:

Third Way Advisory: https://www.thirdwayadvisory.com.au/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-moussa-thirdway

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danmoussa_thirdwayadvisory/

Chapters:

00:00 Meet Daniel Moussa

00:29 Founder-led CEO vs corporate CEO

03:05 The real cost of a wrong hire

04:41 The "pre-season" hiring process

07:50 Fake CVs and volume recruiting

12:28 Stop being the bottleneck

15:49 Headhunting people who aren't looking

25:48 Why senior hires take 6 months

31:13 Interims and fractional executives

35:12 Dan's founder story

41:21 Dan's #1 advice: no plan B

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