Is “culture fit” the secret sauce of team cohesion… or just startup speak for hiring people who look, think, and act exactly like you?

In Episode 6 of UnicornPrn, Melissa and Lloyed torch the startup world’s favorite excuse for bias, groupthink, and hiring your drinking buddies. They unpack how “culture fit” became a Trojan horse for toxic execs, lazy recruiting, and leadership that folds like a lawn chair under pressure.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

✅ Why “culture fit” is often just code for bias

✅ How the “beer test” broke your hiring

✅ Startup horror stories of culture gone wrong

✅ How to hire for culture add, not fit

✅ A playbook for building an intentional culture at scale.

Hot Takes:

✅ “What’s good for the leader should be good for everyone. Lead by example, no favoritism, one rule for all.”
✅ “Culture is not what you write on the wall, it’s how people behave when the leaders aren’t in the room.”

So grab your kombucha, cancel your ping-pong table budget, and maybe double-check that Slack gossip channel… because this episode goes full HR-horror story mode.

Tune in. Wake up. Think hard. Build smart.

Contact UnicornPrn

• Find show notes of each episode on UnicornPrn.com - hit subscribe like it owes you money

About our hosts

• Melissa Kwan is Cofounder and CEO of eWebinar, and a 3X bootstrapper who has spent the last 14 years building companies without ever raising a cent of venture capital.
• Lloyed Lobo is a WSJ bestselling author, Cofounder of Boast.AI and Traction founder community, startup advisor, angel investor, board member, and LP in multiple VC funds — he’s seen startup chaos from both sides of the term sheet.
• LinkedIn: Melissa Kwan and Lloyed Lobo
• Instagram: @themelissakwan and @lloyedlobo⁠⁠
• YouTube: @themlissakwan and @StartupTraction
• Subscribe to 'your founder next door' at melissakwan.com, Melissa's bi-monthly newsletter on how to build a company without an abundance of resources and fr...

In startup land, everyone acts like hiring’s a cheat code… “just add a rockstar!” But what if that rockstar needs a brief for everything, tanks morale, or burns $280K on vaporware?

In Episode 5 of UnicornPrn, Melissa and Lloyed discuss the hiring disasters that don’t make it to TechCrunch, from corporate dinosaurs who can’t function without minions to vibe hires who vanish before onboarding.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
✅ Why early-stage hiring is high-stakes and emotionally loaded
✅ The common bad hire archetypes that will quietly (or loudly) kill your company
✅ Red flag checklists to spot bad fits before they destroy your culture
✅ When to hire, when to fire, and how to test-drive before you commit

Hot Takes:
✅ “If you keep hiring for tenure over trajectory, you will become the very thing you set out to disrupt.”
✅ “You need to think about hiring as a fiscally responsible decision.”

Grab your popcorn (and maybe your severance template), because this one’s loaded with red flags, cut-worthy hires, and savage founder truths that'll save your runway from going up in flames.

Tune in. Wake up. Think hard. Build smart.

Contact UnicornPrn

• Find show notes of each episode on UnicornPrn.com - hit subscribe like it owes you money

About our hosts

• Melissa Kwan is Cofounder and CEO of eWebinar, and a 3X bootstrapper who has spent the last 14 years building companies without ever raising a cent of venture capital.
• Lloyed Lobo is a WSJ bestselling author, Cofounder of Boast.AI and Traction founder community, startup advisor, angel investor, board member, and LP in multiple VC funds — he’s seen startup chaos from both sides of the term sheet.
• LinkedIn: Melissa Kwan and Lloyed Lobo
• Instagram: @themelissakwan and @lloyedlobo⁠⁠
• YouTube: @themlissakwan and @StartupTraction
• Subscribe to 'your founder next door' at melissakwan.com, Melissa's bi-monthly newsletter on how to build a company without an abundance of resources and fr...

In the startup world, everyone preaches “fake it till you make it”. But what happens when faking it goes too far? Are you a bold founder hustling to realize a big vision, or a fraudster selling pipe dreams and ending up in handcuffs?

In Episode 4 of UnicornPrn, Melissa and Lloyed pull back the curtain on the dark side of startup hustle – when “fake it till you make it” turns into outright fraud. They swap war stories of con artists in the boardroom, from fake user accounts and phantom revenue to corporate espionage straight out of a spy thriller.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
✅ Why startup culture’s obsession with unicorn status pushes founders to flirt with fraud (and sometimes marry it)
✅ Unicorn Hall of Shame
✅ Common lies founders love to tell (until they can't)
✅ Red flag checklists for founders, investors, and employees to spot BS before it blows up
✅ Frameworks for ethical “fake it till you make it”

Hot Takes:
✅ "You don’t need to lie, you can fake it ethically with Wizard of Oz MVP or no-code."
✅ "Don’t be enamored by fraudsters. That quick win can become the fastest path to jail."

Grab your popcorn (and maybe a notepad), because this one’s full of 🚀memes, spicy insights, and hard-earned lessons for anyone in startup land.

Tune in. Wake up. Think hard. Build smart.

Contact UnicornPrn

• Find show notes of each episode on UnicornPrn.com - hit subscribe like it owes you money

About our hosts

• Melissa Kwan is Cofounder and CEO of eWebinar, and a 3X bootstrapper who has spent the last 14 years building companies without ever raising a cent of venture capital.
• Lloyed Lobo is a WSJ bestselling author, Cofounder of Boast.AI and Traction founder community, startup advisor, angel investor, board member, and LP in multiple VC funds — he’s seen startup chaos from both sides of the term sheet.
• LinkedIn: Melissa Kwan and Lloyed Lobo
• Instagram: @themelissakwan and @lloyedlobo⁠⁠
• YouTube: @themlissakwan and @StartupTraction
• Subscribe to 'your founder next door' at melissakwan.com, Melissa's bi-monthly newsletter on how to build a company without an abundance of resources and fr...