Scaling a team is not a linear process. Each time a company's number of employees doubles (e.g., from 5 to 10, then to 20), its operational structure, processes, and even strategy must be completely re-evaluated. This forces a difficult transition from generalized roles to specialized functions.
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Citing Unity's CEO, Adrian Solgaard highlights the "messy middle" of scaling (from 12 to 100 employees). This awkward phase lacks the intimacy of a small startup and the structure of a large corporation, requiring a difficult leadership transition that founders often struggle with.
As companies grow, collaboration and culture don't scale as quickly as headcount. To maintain product excellence, organizations need dedicated roles like Product Operations to act as "the product manager of the org itself," intentionally designing and improving ways of working.
Processes that work at $30M are inadequate at $45M. Leaders in hyper-growth environments (30-50% YoY) must accept that their playbooks have a short shelf-life and require constant redesign. This necessitates hiring leaders who can build for the next level, not just manage the current one.
Founders often believe they can hire one "integrator" (like a COO) to handle all operational details. This is a myth. True scaling requires hiring specific, talented functional leaders (e.g., Head of Sales, Head of Product) who can solve a single, major business constraint, not a generalist helper.
Pendo's CPO warns that scaling isn't just about replicating processes for more teams. Leaders must simultaneously build coordination systems (design reviews, clear communication) while fighting to maintain the "maniacal focus on the customer" and rapid innovation that characterize small teams.
As a company grows, its old operational systems and processes ('plumbing') become obsolete. True scaling is not about addition; it's about reinvention. This involves systematically removing outdated processes designed for a smaller scale and replacing them entirely.
If hiring more people isn't increasing output, it's likely because you're adding 'ammunition' (individual contributors) without adding 'barrels' (the key people or projects that enable work). To scale effectively, you must increase the number of independent workstreams, not just the headcount within them.
Gamma's CEO resists the pressure to scale headcount aggressively, arguing that doubling the team size does not guarantee double the speed. He believes a smaller, more agile team can change direction faster, which is more valuable than raw speed in a rapidly evolving market.
As companies grow from 30 to 200 people, they naturally become slower. A CEO's critical role is to rebuild the company's operating model, deliberately balancing bottom-up culture with top-down strategic planning to regain speed and ensure everyone is aligned.
Business growth isn't linear. Scaling up introduces novel challenges in complexity, cost, and logistics that were non-existent at a smaller size. For example, doubling manufacturing capacity creates new shipping and specialized hiring problems that leadership must anticipate and solve.
