Podcast Summary: Action Academy | Millionaire Mentorship For Your Life & Business

Episode: A $120M Founder Roasted My Hiring Process (And Fixed It)

Host: Brian Luebben
Guest: Ryan Deiss
Release Date: January 27, 2026

Main Theme:

How to Hire, Manage, and Build Systems for Your First Employees

Brian Luebben sits down with Ryan Deiss, an entrepreneur behind $120M in business, to discuss the art, pitfalls, and mindset of hiring, especially for founders and operators transitioning from solopreneurship. Ryan breaks down actionable tactics to build effective teams, implement sound operating systems, and cultivate a vision that attracts top talent—even on a startup’s budget.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Mindset and Challenges of First-Time Hiring

• Starting Out: Brian shares his struggles and “crash and burn” stories from hiring early on, including the pain of barely affording a virtual assistant and lacking management skills.
  • “I had to go through 10 VAs of crash and burns to build that skillset.” (01:44)
• Impostor Syndrome: Ryan acknowledges that everyone struggles at first and encourages founders to see these skills as “figureoutable.”
  • “All of these things are figureoutable. And so just because you haven’t done it before doesn’t mean you can’t do it.” (02:34)
• Hiring as a Mindset Shift: Instead of doubting why anyone would join a fledgling company, flip the script—it’s an opportunity for new hires to join on the ground floor.
  • “The people on the outside, they don’t know you have no idea what you’re doing… All they know is you posted a job and it seems cool—because it is cool.” (03:05)

2. When to Hire: Recognizing the Shift from Hustle to Delegation

• Hustle First, Hire When Needed: There’s a season where founders have to “make it rain” and do it all. But eventually, your own bandwidth bottlenecks growth.
  • “You just gotta do two jobs. Because right now, today, you can’t afford to go and hire somebody else.” (04:14)
• The Excuse Becomes the Reason: Delay in hiring can stunt growth; sometimes not being able to afford help is because you aren’t hiring.
  • “The reason you can’t afford to hire that person is because you’re so busy doing all of these things…” (04:28)
• Letting Go If it Doesn’t Work: Hiring isn’t a one-way door—a misfire isn’t permanent. Don't let ego delay necessary action.
  • “It’s okay to go to them and say, I am really sorry…I’m gonna have to let you go. It’s okay to do that.” (05:03)
  • “What I actually did is I held them back from that place by providing them the best, worst option.” (06:19)

3. 90-Day Hiring Mindset & High-Impact Hires

• The 90-Day Bet: Treat each new hire as a 90-day experiment with clear checkpoints.
  • Brian: “Every single hire is a 90-day bet.” (06:46)
  • “If by 90 days…they’re not paying for themselves…it’s not a fit.” (07:15)
• Hiring Up, Not Down: Early on, hire higher-impact people who can deliver ROI—don’t only offload low-level work.
  • Ryan: “Start off hiring higher level people before you think you need it. It is actually lower risk.” (07:56)

4. Vision Over Compensation & Attracting Talent

• Sell the Destination: Having a compelling vision is crucial in attracting the right talent, sometimes even before you can pay what the market demands.
  • “You gotta have that crystal-clear vision…sell them on the destination.” (08:29)
  • “A lot of [talent] from within our community…are saying, ‘Hey you don’t need to pay me yet, we’ll figure something out.’ Because they believe in the vision.” (08:11)

5. Building Operating Systems: The Key to Scalable Teams

• Visualize First: Start with process mapping to see exactly how your business creates and fulfills value.
  • Ryan: “You cannot optimize until you visualize. So first, we visualize.” (10:33)
• Checklists and Playbooks: Only build documentation and playbooks for business-critical steps with high error risk; don’t over-systematize.
  • “Most of the businesses that we run, they’ve got 10, 15, 20 playbooks that actually matter. They don’t have hundreds.” (11:44)
• Assign Clear Ownership: Each step in the process must have a single owner—no split responsibility.
• Systems Precede People: Focus on solving for systems first, then hire the people to run them.
  • “Good people don’t fix broken systems. Broken systems break good people.” (13:02)
  • “I am not trying to hire rockstars and ninjas and A-players… My goal is to build companies that do not require them.” (13:13)
• Scorecards and Meetings: Only run meetings if there’s a scorecard—a regular rhythm to review the vital flow of the business.
  • “My rule is: no scorecard, no meeting.” (13:58)
• Vision Things Last: Don’t start with vision/goal-setting. First, ensure processes work and value flows through the company.
  • “If you’re not even clear on how you create value and the systems to do that, you have no business setting goals.” (14:20)

6. Visionary vs. Integrator: It’s a Spectrum

• Founders often must play both roles, especially in smaller organizations. You can’t “opt out” of crucial work just because it doesn’t match your strengths.
  • “If it’s your company…there are certain things you don’t get to opt out of. I don’t get to just not change diapers.” (15:03)
• Build a functional leadership team first; don’t jump to high-level ops managers before you have heads of each area.
  • “Build that functional leadership team first. Don’t try to build some ‘I want to have one person that reports to me that then builds everything else.’” (15:42)

7. What Makes a ‘Great System’?

• A great system:
  • Any employee can see where they fit in two minutes
  • Clear, connected roles, metrics, and goals
  • Informs hiring plans and scorecards
  • “If the systems don’t connect to the people and then the metrics…it's not a good system.” (17:43)

8. Building & Assigning Winning Scorecards

• Use the business process (“value engine”) map to assign meaningful metrics at each stage—avoid vanity metrics.
  • “Scorecards…tell a story of the customer journey.” (19:11)
  • “Whether you pick or you say you guys duke it out or flip a coin, I don’t care. But one person needs to own it.” (19:27)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Hiring Mindset:

  • “All these things are figureoutable…there are people out there who can help you…so start from there.” (Ryan Deiss, 02:34)

• On Early Startup Hiring:

  • “The reason you can’t afford to hire that person is because you’re so busy doing all these things.” (Ryan Deiss, 04:28)

• On Letting Go:

  • “What I actually did is I held them back from that place by providing them the best, worst option.” (Ryan Deiss, 06:19)

• On the 90-Day Bet:

  • “Every single hire is a 90-day bet.” (Brian Luebben, 06:46)

• On Systems Before People:

  • “Good people don’t fix broken systems. Broken systems break good people.” (Ryan Deiss, 13:02)
  • “I am not trying to hire rockstars and ninjas and A-players and all that gobbledygook nonsense. My goal is to build companies that do not require them.” (Ryan Deiss, 13:13)

• On Company Operating System:

  • “You cannot optimize until you visualize. So first, we visualize.” (Ryan Deiss, 10:33)
  • “If you’re not even clear on how you create value and the systems to do that, you have no business setting goals.” (Ryan Deiss, 14:20)

• On Scorecards:

  • “My rule is: no scorecard, no meeting.” (Ryan Deiss, 13:58)
  • “If it’s multiple people [owning a metric], then nobody’s responsible for it…one person needs to own it.” (Ryan Deiss, 19:27)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:44 – Early hiring struggles and the reality of learning by failing
• 02:34 – Ryan on adopting a “figureoutable” mindset
• 04:14 – The hard truth about when it’s time to hire
• 05:03 – Dealing with hiring mistakes and letting people go
• 06:46 – The 90-day bet and risk mitigation
• 07:56 – Hire higher-level people early for ROI
• 08:29 – Selling vision to attract early talent
• 09:05 – Introducing operating systems and process mapping
• 13:02 – System problems vs. hiring problems
• 13:58 – Purpose of meetings and the “no scorecard, no meeting” rule
• 14:20 – Why operating systems matter before vision/goal setting
• 15:03 – Visionary vs. integrator roles
• 17:05 – What makes a great system
• 18:15 – Building and assigning meaningful scorecards

Tone & Language

• Candid and practical, with a dose of humor (e.g., analogies about diapers and gobbledygook).
• Action-focused: Clear, step-by-step takeaways.
• Supportive but realistic about entrepreneur struggles.

Final Takeaway

If you’re trying to escape your 9-5 and build a business with leverage, master hiring as a learnable skill, focus on high-impact teammates, and build systems that allow talent—and your company—to flourish. Don’t obsess over “A-players” or perfection: build solid systems first, set a clear vision, and iterate as you grow. Hire is a 90-day bet, not a lifelong marriage, and it’s okay to let go of what doesn’t fit. And remember: if you can’t visualize how your business creates value, don’t set goals—start with the process map.

For more, search for the full interview with Ryan Deiss on the Action Academy podcast feed.