Don't Hire Your Friends, My Intern Was Texting Clients Behind My Back | Firdaus Mohamed, GoBarakah

He spent 20 years assessing risk for Malaysia's banks. Then he hired his friends. Firdaus Mohamed built a career on one skill: knowing what could go wrong. Corporate strategy at Bank Islam, Zurich, Etiqa and AmBank. Credit committees. Zakat committees. Then he left to build GoBarakah, a fintech that turns donations into trackable, traceable e-vouchers, and his team went on to launch Impakrintas, Malaysia's first Social Exchange. But when it came to his own team, the risk expert skipped the due diligence. A conversation over Hari Raya dinner became a job offer. An old uni friend with C-suite banking experience came in as his number two. Within a month the red flags were obvious. She wouldn't talk to the CTO. She turned 30-second decisions into 30-minute phone calls. She showed up two hours late to a government meeting he'd sent her to in his place. Then he did it again. A friend who needed a break came in as an intern, and after she left, the business found out she'd been messaging clients behind their backs to undermine the founders. It ended with a letter under threat of legal action. And the friend was his wife's. His wife is also his CTO. This one gets into: - Why the people you trust most can be your worst hires - The red flags that show up in month one, and why Founders ignore them - What protecting a friend tells the rest of your team - Managing someone you'll see at the next family dinner - The hiring process he runs now: hire slow, fire fast - Why big-company experience doesn't transfer to a startup A banker who learned the hard way that a great CV and a great friendship don't add up to a great hire. If you're about to bring your best mate into the business, watch this first. CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:54 Why a risk expert didn't apply it to hiring 01:47 From Hari Raya dinner to job offer 02:59 The ex-bank C-suite friend 04:34 Red flags in month one 06:16 How long it took to act 07:26 The 30-minute phone calls 08:37 Two hours late for a government meeting 10:33 Why he kept giving chances 11:52 What the team saw 13:07 Hire number two: the intern 15:42 The letter under threat of legal action 18:12 When the friend is your wife's 19:11 What happened to the friendships 23:55 How he hires now 26:21 Tying pay rises to probation 26:39 His advice: don't hire your best mate 29:08 Why bank experience doesn't transfer 30:31 Every salary transfer hurts GUEST Firdaus Mohamed, CEO & Co-founder, GoBarakah and Impakrintas LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/firdaus-mohamed-289b576/ Website: https://impakrintas.com FOUNDER F\*\*K UPS The podcast where Founders talk about the thing that actually went wrong. Website: https://www.founderfuckups.co YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@founderfuckups #FounderFuckUps #Founders #Hiring #StartupMistakes #HireSlowFireFast #Malaysia #Fintech #Leadership #StartupCulture