[MBCook]

This sounds like a management issue more than anything else. The guy screwed up, but how did no one catch on for 6 years? How did he not have someone managing him making sure he had enough work?

Seems like he 'fell through the cracks' of startup culture. The company grew so fast that he was just there and no one questioned it after a while and no one was in charge of him.

Or someone was and they need retraining/firing.