Max Levchin explains why B-players hire C-players

February 10, 2025

The co-founder of PayPal and Affirm reflects on the famous Steve Jobs insight that A-players hire A-players, and B-players hire C-players:

“It’s profoundly true. But there should be an asterisk explaining why this is true. And the reason for this is fear.”

A-players love working with other A-players because they know it will make them better. They want other A-players who challenge them and will tell them when their work isn’t good.

Most B-players are net positive too, but as Max argues, some are fearful and will say:

“If I have too many B-players or A-players around, I will look terrible and it’ll be very obvious that I’m just not that good. So the way to fix this is for me to become a manager and hire a bunch of people who aren’t very good at all so that I’ll look like the tallest mushroom.”

Max continues:

“That is the real danger of B-players. Having people who are perfectly willing to do good work day-in and day-out is not the worst thing in the world. There’s plenty of things that A-players will turn their nose from because it’s just not that challenging. B-players are very good for that [type of work]. And a lot of B-players will over time grind their way to being A-players, so you’re investing in their future and they know it, and that’s also positive. But B-players who have fear of being found out are the ones you have to watch out for.”