警惕“平庸回收型”高管：B2B+AI 招聘的红旗与对策

So I wrote a version of this post a while back, and it struck a chord. A lot of founders reached out and said some version of “I just hired one of these.” Or worse, “I’ve hired three.”

But I’m updating it now because I’m watching this trend actually accelerate in the Age of AI. And it’s getting worse, not better.

Here’s what’s happening: The hottest B2B + AI startups are scaling fast. They need experienced leaders. CROs, CMOs, VPs of Product, Heads of Customer Success. And there’s a certain type of exec that keeps getting recycled into these roles. They worked at a good company once, maybe twice. They have the right logos on LinkedIn. They talk fluently about PLG and enterprise sales motions and AI-native go-to-market. They interview well.

But they never actually did it. They just worked there.

And now many of them can’t even use AI themselves.

They’re joining AI-first companies and they haven’t built a single workflow with an AI agent. Haven’t used Claude or ChatGPT for anything beyond a casual query. Can’t demo the product they’re supposed to sell or market. They’re running the 2019 playbook at a 2026 company.

The Mediocre Recycled were always a problem. But in AI, where the pace is 3-5x faster than traditional SaaS and the product changes weekly, they’re a disaster. They don’t just underperform. They actively slow you down. They hire the wrong people (also Mediocre Recycled, usually), burn 6-9 months figuring out they’re in over their head, and then trade that “VP at hot AI startup” line on their resume for another VP role somewhere else.

I was at one of the hottest B2B AI startups the other day and met one of the Mediocre Recycled as the new C-level exec. He was already lost. The pace was too fast, the product too complicated, his domain knowledge the wrong fit. But his fancy LinkedIn and ability to talk the talk got him a job at one of the hottest startups out there. He’ll last 9 months, tops. And then he’ll do it again somewhere else.

The Tells Haven’t Changed. But Add a Few New Ones.

The classic red flags still apply:

• No CEO-level reference. Any great VP-level candidate should have at least one CEO willing to sing their praises. Maybe not everywhere. Maybe a role or two didn’t work out. But someone to say they were great. If you can’t find a single former boss who says this person was magical, that’s not a yellow flag. It’s a red one.
• Too many short job hops as a VP/Director. We can debate if this is OK early in your career. But someone who never seems to make it a year as a VP probably won’t at your shop either.
• No one great wants to come with them. This is especially rough in a VP of Sales candidate, but it goes for any leader. A great leader should have 1-2 great folks that want to follow them. If they can’t name anyone who’d come with them, ask yourself why.
• Happy to join you from a direct competitor doing just about as well. Why would someone want to jump from one direct competitor to another, especially if the latter wasn’t growing far, far faster? That lateral move should make you pause.
• Doesn’t really do any homework during the interview process. Don’t gloss over this. Everyone glosses over this. The Mediocre Recycled are lazy. They’ll ask you tons of seemingly smart questions in the interview process. But they won’t really learn the product or do the type of deep research someone that’s truly engaged would and should do.

But now add these for the AI era:

• They can’t actually use AI. Ask them. Not “do you believe in AI” or “what’s your AI strategy.” Ask them what AI tools they use daily. What have they built or shipped with AI? What workflows have they automated? If they fumble here, they will not be able to lead at an AI-native company. Period. A CRO who has never personally used an AI SDR or an AI-powered pipeline tool is going to run your revenue org like it’s 2021.
• They talk about AI in abstractions, never specifics. “We need to be AI-first” and “I’m very bullish on agents” are things anyone can say after reading three LinkedIn posts. Push them. What specific AI tool changed how they worked last quarter? What did they ship? What broke? If every answer is a platitude, you’ve got a Mediocre Recycled who added “AI” to their vocabulary but not their skillset.
• They want to hire a big team before doing anything. The best AI-era leaders are doing more with less. They want to. They’re using AI agents to handle what used to require 3-5 headcount. The Mediocre Recycled still want to hire 20+ people in their first 90 days because that’s the only way they know how to operate. If their first instinct is “I need a team of 8 before I can show results,” that’s a sign they can’t actually do the work themselves.

What To Do About It

Strong folks do get fired all the time. Don’t let that be a flag, per se. But do let someone who never really gets anything done anywhere, despite lots of seemingly impressive roles, be a Big Red Flag.

Here’s what I’d push every founder hiring a VP or C-level exec to do right now:

• Have the best VP currently in that role you know interview the candidate. Have the best CRO you know interview your potential VP of Sales. The best CMO, your VP of Marketing candidate. People stopped doing this for some reason a ways back, but you really should do it. Do the extra work here. Sometimes they may give even top candidates mixed feedback. But at least you’ll have that feedback. At least it will challenge you to see if you have a Mediocre Recycled zombie on your hands, or not.
• Push them hard on what they actually accomplished. Get numbers and metrics, and push on them. This isn’t a perfect test, but if you get loose or deflective answers, it’s often a sign. In the AI era, also ask: what did you personally automate, build, or ship with AI? Not your team. You.
• Do real reference checks and find at least one CEO or boss that says they are truly great. One is enough to take some risk. Zero is an issue. Reference checks are not a waste of time. You’re looking for someone like you, another CEO, another founder, that says they were magical. That’s not a waste of your time, or a “check the box” activity.
• Ask them who they’d bring with them, and talk to at least one of those folks. Don’t just assume because they say they know a few good folks that will come, that it’s true. If they can’t come up with any names, that’s a flag for a VP role. Go talk to one or two.
• Ask to talk to 1-2 of their customers. This is a great way to learn what a VP of Sales, Marketing, Product, or Customer Success really did well. Yes, it is OK to ask for this.
• Give them a real AI-native work test and/or have them deeply share with you how AI has changed their role. Not a case study from a textbook. Give them a real problem your company faces right now and ask them to use AI tools to work through it. You’ll learn more in 2 hours than in 5 rounds of interviews.

The Real Risk Right Now

We all get blinded by logos, and we all get a bit tired after looking for a key VP role for months. But don’t make the mistake so many of us do, often again and again. And hire the Mediocre Recycled. The ones that somewhat desperate CEOs keep hiring again, and again, and again.

The risk is higher now than it’s ever been. AI-first companies are moving at a pace where a mediocre exec doesn’t just waste a quarter. They waste a year of compounding. While your competitor with a great CRO is shipping AI-powered outbound and closing deals with half the team, your Mediocre Recycled CRO is still building a “strategic hiring plan” and asking for a bigger budget.

Take risk in your VP hires, but don’t settle. That’s different. That risk should usually be a stretch hire of some sort. Even at scale. And whatever you do, don’t settle for someone who worked at the right place but never actually got anything done. Who never moved the needle themselves. Who can’t even use the core technology your company is built on.