Headcount went from 14 to 22. The org chart didn’t.

Nothing visibly broke when the team was fourteen. The mechanism that made those first hires feel free reverses quietly, and a manager isn't always the answer.

By Steve 5 min read
Abstract bridge artwork for Headcount went from 14 to 22. The org chart didn’t.

Eight hires in eighteen months, and no structural change to absorb them. Everyone still reports to the same two or three people who ran the business at fourteen. Nobody has complained, exactly. But quotes take longer to leave the building, small decisions sit unmade for days, the founder’s diary is full of five-minute conversations, and the quality problems that used to be rare are now a background hum. The instinct is to read this as a people problem: someone isn’t stepping up, someone needs to be tougher on standards. Occasionally…

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