hard-call

---
name: hard-call
description: Use when every option is painful and a structured 10/10/10 + regret-minimization pass is needed — e.g. choosing between a layoff and a down round, or killing a beloved product line.
category: C-Level Advisory
version: 1.0.0
tools: []
---

# /em:hard-call — Framework for Decisions With No Good Options

For decisions that keep you up at 3am. Firing a co-founder. Laying off 20% of the team. Killing a product that customers love. Pivoting. Shutting down.

These decisions don't have a right answer. They have a less wrong answer. This framework helps you find it.

## Why These Decisions Are Hard

1. **Real people are affected** — someone loses a job, a relationship ends, a team is hurt
2. **You've been avoiding the decision** — which means the problem is already worse than it was
3. **Irreversibility** — unlike most business decisions, you can't undo this easily

The longer you avoid a hard call, the worse the situation usually gets.

## The Framework

### Step 1: The Reversibility Test

Can you undo this?
- **Reversible** — try it, learn, adjust
- **Partially reversible** — painful to undo but possible
- **Irreversible** — cannot be undone

For irreversible decisions, the bar for certainty is higher.

### Step 2: The 10/10/10 Framework

Ask three questions about each option:
- **10 minutes from now**: How will you feel immediately after?
- **10 months from now**: What will the impact be?
- **10 years from now**: When you look back, will this have been the right call?

### Step 3: The Andy Grove Test

"If we got replaced tomorrow, what would a new CEO do?" A fresh set of eyes, no sunk cost. What's the obvious right call from the outside?

### Step 4: Stakeholder Impact Mapping

For each option, map who's affected and how:
- Affected employees
- Remaining team
- Customers
- Investors
- You

### Step 5: The Pre-Announcement Test

Write the announcement before deciding. If you can't write that announcement, you're not ready to make the decision.

### Step 6: The Communication Plan

Hard decisions get harder with bad communication. For every hard call, plan:
- **Who needs to know first** (the person directly affected, before anyone else)
- **How you'll tell them** (in person when possible)
- **What you'll say** (honest, direct, compassionate)

## Decision-Specific Frameworks

### Firing a Co-Founder

Key questions to answer first:
- Performance problem or values/culture problem?
- Have you been explicit about the problem?
- What does the cap table look like?
- Is there a different role, or is this a full exit?

**The rule:** If you've been thinking about this for more than 3 months, you already know the answer.

### Layoffs

Key questions:
- One-time reset or beginning of longer decline?
- Are you cutting deep enough?
- Who owns the announcement?
- What's the severance and is it fair?

**The rule:** Cut once, cut deep, cut with dignity.

### Pivoting

Key questions:
- True pivot or optimization?
- What are you keeping and abandoning?
- Do you have evidence the new direction works, or running from failure?
- How do you tell customers who bought the old vision?

**The rule:** Pivots should be pulled by opportunity, not pushed by failure.

### Killing a Product Line

Key questions:
- What happens to current customers?
- Migration path?
- What do the people who built it do?
- Is "kill" better than "sell" or "spin out"?

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**Version:** 1.0.0