You’ve successfully built a 10-person startup through hands-on hustle, but scaling to 100 demands a shift—from founder-led chaos to CEO-level strategy. Our **"From 10 to 100" framework** guides you through three critical scaling phases: structuring roles, building autonomous teams, and embedding scalable systems. We explain how our services help you handle hiring, processes, and capacity-building so you can focus on strategy, product, and sustainable scaling. Let’s turn operational chaos into structured growth—without losing what made your startup thrive.

From 10 to 100: Scaling for Growth

You’ve built a 10-person startup from scratch. But the problem is the hands-on tactics that got you here won’t carry you to a team of 100. They’ve seen you through the earliest days but that doesn’t mean they are the right people to take you from here to 100.

Scaling sustainably means evolving from a founder, who wears all the hats, into a strategic CEO who empowers others to drive the company vision.

It’s a familiar story. Founders hit a breaking point as their team grows. Chaos seeps in, communication gets messy and priorities become unclear.

The demands in founder land follow a pattern. Leading a team of 30 people or more, you will most likely be required to spend 50% of your time hiring and managing people. Tasks you’re not necessarily prepared for and probably don’t enjoy.

It’s exhausting and pulls you away from the strategy and product work you love. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Our "From 10 to 100" framework is built to guide you through this shift. Whether you’re growing from 10 to 30 or pushing past 60, this approach helps you lead smarter and build a thriving team, while focusing on what matters most for the business.

Let’s walk through it.

1. From Builders to Architects

Early-stage founders are builders. You’re the one keeping things moving - writing code, making sales, pitching investors. Hard work and the ability to be agile fuels your startup life.

Growth-stage founders, however, become architects. It’s a different game. You move from knowing (and perhaps controlling) every detail to trusting your team. You stop fixing problems yourself and start guiding others to solve them.

Going through this evolution isn’t simple. It means rethinking how you operate. Many founders have trouble letting go, because the company is their baby. But holding too tight will limit the potential of your team and consequently also your growth.

The CEO you need to become focuses on setting the direction, hiring the right people and giving them the structure they need to be able to operate relatively autonomously. It’s a bold move that lets you work on the business, not just in it.

2. The Three Phases of Team Scaling

Scaling from 10 to 100 happens in stages, each with its own challenges and pitfalls.

Phase 1: 10 to 30
You’re past the startup phase but not yet a well-oiled machine. Trying to figure out everyone’s roles and responsibilities often trip teams up here. A frequent mistake is hiring too quickly without a clear plan. You end up with more people but no focus. You need to fix your focus first.
Phase 2: 30 to 60
Things get complex. Teams split into smaller groups and alignment starts to slip. This is the crucial phase to let go of exerting control over everything. If you’re still used to micromanaging instead of delegating, you’ll cause burnout for everyone. You need to build your team.
Phase 3: 60 to 100+
You’re a full-fledged organisation now that needs solid systems, habits and behaviours that work within a sustainable structure. A common error here is ignoring culture. Hiring for skills alone won’t cut it anymore. You’ll also need to ensure culture-fit to provide a working system where your team can thrive together. When people are aligned, growth accelerates.

Every phase calls for a new approach.

3. Organisational Design: Building Capacity Through People

Growth needs a foundation. When you are around 10 people, your team is still small enough for everyone to be in the loop. You’re all in it together, everyone can chip in when a problem pops up and help solve it.

As you scale, that setup isn’t sustainable anymore. You’re dealing with more now - more products, more customers, more team members, more of everything. Without a clear structure of roles and responsibilities, things turn into chaos quickly and people get more and more frustrated.

Lay out your core functions first. Split your work into key areas (technical, GTM, sales, operations etc) and connect each of them to your main business goals.

Write it down: Who’s in charge of each area? What do they need to succeed? You need to know exactly who is doing what, so you can hire for the gaps.

Then look for people with that A-player energy. They can be junior, but they must show that they can solve problems and display a desire to build with you. A system for hiring is critical, but you don’t need to do it all yourself. As you grow, you need to hire more specialists, often in areas you don’t fully understand yourself. Be very specific about what you’re looking for, including who is the right fit in terms of values.

4. Scalable Systems: Managing and Retaining Your Team

Systems keep your teams running smoothly as the numbers grow, but they change depending on which phase of team scaling you are in.

At a team size of 10, you’re focused on finding talent and getting them up to speed. The onboarding is quick and perhaps done over a chat with goals set in a shared file.

When you’re 30, that’s not enough. You’ve got separate teams now and more data to track. Retention starts to matter as much as hiring, just like your go-to-market shifts from chasing new customers to keeping them. Feedback will be key, so set up regular check-ins so your people know where they stand.

Spot your A-players and give them projects and opportunities that allow them to learn and grow. Equally important, keep tabs on who’s slipping - performance or culture-wise - and manage them out. This is a tough thing to do and many founders try to avoid it, but letting it slide will weaken your entire team. Having a C-player on the team demotivates your stars and pulls others down. They are better off elsewhere. Make that difficult decision.

With a medium-sized team, there is no need for complex performance reviews or leveling frameworks yet. Don’t tie up your team’s time in internal meetings. Wait until you’re 50, 60 people or more, when team managers need that type of structure.

5. Tech-Enabled Scaling: The Power and Limits of AI

Technology is a hot topic for scaling, and AI agents are all the rage right now. On paper, it’s tempting. Why hire more people when you can deploy a bunch of agents instead? An AI can analyse financial data, write reports, sort through leads or answer customer questions, all without a salary.

It’s a good promise but we are not quite there yet. LLMs still make a lot of mistakes; they misinterpret numbers, hallucinate in their answers or are simply missing the human touch that solves real problems. You will still need people to watch over them and adjust their outputs.

The best use of AI is to use it to support your team, not stand in for them. Shave off admin time and give your team bandwidth to focus on creative, high-impact work.

6. Handling Operational Chaos

Despite your best efforts, scaling will get messy. Plans change, priorities shift and random surprises hit — such is startup life.

An agile roadmap keeps you steady. You need to review priorities month by month, flexing as you go. And working through your organisational roadmap.

Chaos comes for everyone; how you respond decides if it stops you or strengthens you.

Your Journey From 10 to 100

This path from 10 to 100 tests your resolve and rewards your focus, moving through phases, structures, and systems that build a lasting team. You don’t have to figure it out alone or lose half your time to tasks that drain you.

Our growth coaching and consultancy service, steps in to work in your business, handling hiring, processes and capacity building, so you can work on it and lead with clarity.

This is the beginning. We break down each phase and topic in future posts. For now, look at where your team stands and commit to scaling with intention. We’re here to guide you at specific points in the journey.

From 10 to 100: How to Scale Your Team for Sustainable Growth