Don't Let Kramer Pick Your Vendors

A founder’s guide to vetting help, facing friction, and keeping the cable guys from eating all the shrimp.

Author

R.J. A.
June 05, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Table of Contents

"Cable boy. Cable boy. What have you done to my little cable boy?" - Kramer

tl;dr

When your operations get hijacked by unvetted vendors (or unresolved baggage), your business party ends in chaos. Skip the shortcut. Build systems that scale with accountability.

Previously on Seinfeld

In The Baby Shower (S2, E10), Elaine hosts a baby shower in Jerry’s apartment while he’s out of town for a comedy gig (which gets canceled). George sees it as his big chance to confront Leslie, the woman who once poured Bosco on him during a date.

Meanwhile, Jerry agrees to let Kramer’s shady Russian contacts install illegal cable. Naturally, they crash the party, devour the food, and start a brawl. George chickens out. Jerry’s old flame throws a fit. The cable guys smash his TV when he refuses to pay.

The baby shower? Ruined. The apartment? Destroyed. The closure? Nonexistent.

Quick thanks + summer update ☀️

Before we jump in, a huge thank you to everyone who took the recent reader survey. Your feedback was thoughtful, honest, and incredibly helpful.

Biggest takeaway? You want more actionable finance and ops guidance for founders and small businesses… without losing the Seinfeld voice. Message received. Expect more insights, less yada yada.

Also: for the summer, we’re shifting to a bi-weekly schedule. Same tone, same lessons - just fewer emails while we all catch a little sun.

Yada Yada Insight

Beware the unvetted “helper.”

Startups and small businesses are often tempted to “Kramer” their way to progress… whether it’s a discounted software stack, a cousin’s friend doing bookkeeping, or a favor from someone who “knows a guy.”

The catch? These shortcuts can crash your metaphorical baby shower.

Jerry let Kramer run point on a critical operational install. No vetting. No guardrails. No plan for cleanup. That $150 illegal cable became a multi-front disaster - wrecking his apartment, his social standing, and ultimately, his television.

I’ve seen founders do the same. They hand over financial ops to well-meaning but underqualified helpers. Bookkeeping gets bungled. Payroll is late. Metrics are off. Founders end up reconciling accounts at midnight and fielding awkward investor questions - all because the cable guys weren’t cable guys.

The same goes for emotional baggage. George brought his red shirt and revenge plans to the party, but never confronted Leslie. That baggage? Still packed. And now everyone else had to deal with the mess.

The takeaway: Don’t confuse forward motion with real progress.

Vet your people. Air your issues. Otherwise, you’ll end up footing the bill for a broken system you never meant to build.

Unlocking the Vault

The “No Cable Without a Contract” Rulebook

1. Trust, but verify

Referrals are great, but do some diligence. Have they done this before? For someone like you? What’s the actual scope and deliverables?

If Kramer says, “they’re good,” that’s exactly when you need a second opinion.

2. Define the finish line

Whether it’s a consultant, a tool, or a team hire, get crystal clear on what “done” means.

Otherwise, they’ll eat your shrimp cocktail and call it progress.

3. Test before you trust

Start with a sandbox, a trial, or a contained project.

If someone’s going to trash your TV, better it be a rental.

4. Address your Georges

Emotional landmines (old partnerships, toxic hires, failed launches) don’t resolve themselves.

Don’t let unresolved drama show up in a red-collared shirt and hijack your next team meeting. Face it. Fix it. Move on.

Don’t let your baby shower become a brawl. Vet the vendors, define the terms, and never let unresolved issues wear the red shirt.

Tired of hiring Kramers when you need clarity?

I help founders cut through the chaos, clean up their numbers, and build businesses that actually run.

If your ops feel like a broken TV with no remote… maybe it’s time we talked.

Meme of the Week

When you let your ‘ops guy’ handle vendor selection without asking questions.👇

Let’s Catch Up at Monk’s

🧠 Tape-Switching Strategy – when “just fix it” breaks everything

🧯 Too Close for Comfort – on the danger of overinvolvement

🧾 Friends with Deliverables – when favors go feral in business

💸 Want $500 from Ramp? Use this link — no yada yada.

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