The Three Phases of Team Scaling

The founder journey is to become an effective CEOs when scaling from a small team of 10 to a larger one of 100. Key differences between early-stage founders and growth-stage CEOs include shifting focus from immediate survival to long-term vision, replacing instinctive decision-making with structured processes, transitioning from hands-on problem-solving to empowering teams, and prioritizing trust over control. This requires three mindset shifts: trusting teams to handle details, focusing on strategic goals over short-term fixes, and leading through vision rather than individual heroics.

The Three Phases of Team Scaling

Growing a team from 10 to 100 can feel uncertain, especially when you are a first-time founder. You want a plan, something to make sense of it all and show you what to do next. We’ve helped founders through this journey and learnt that growth happens in stages. 

In our "From 10 to 100" framework, these stages are “The Three Phases” that change how your team works and how you lead. This builds on the last article, where you became the CEO your team needs, and now it’s about guiding that team as it grows. 

You’ll face questions along the way: Are you hiring the right people? Is your setup strong enough? How do you keep everyone focused? I’ve laid out these phases to help you see what’s ahead and take action.

Please note that the team size numbers referred to in this article are based on empirical averages and are not exact science. Every startup grows differently, but this plan shows you the challenges you are likely to come across and how to handle them.

Phase 1: 10 to 30 – From Startup to Structure

The typical startup core team consists of 10 people or less. You are a lean and scrappy team that has built an MVP and is chasing those early signs of product-market fit. 

Your daily standups keep everyone informed and aligned. Ideas bounce freely in your Slack channel and the energy is high. Roles can be hazy in those early stages. The CTO codes and also deals with support tickets. The CEO talks to customers, does some marketing and some sales, and pays the invoices. 

As you grow past 10 toward 30, things start to change. Talking to everyone gets harder when you can’t gather the whole team in one quick huddle. Role overlap becomes a challenge. When there are more people to do all the things, how do you make sure that the responsibilities are assigned in such a way that nothing falls through the cracks and the workload is fairly distributed? 

I’ve watched many founders mess up in this phase. They are hiring too many people too soon, ending up with 25 or more, without a structure to hold it together. Or they cling to control and keep micromanaging every decision, which can massively slow down the pace.

The solution is simple yet vital: Define who owns what. Set clear job roles and stick to them. Support and enable your team members to own their domains. It’s boring, but incredibly important. Job definition, clear targets, linked to KPIs. Each role should know which KPIs they play into, and how their performance towards them will be measured. 

In this phase, you should also define your culture, if you haven’t done it previously. It’s crucial to understand what you value—behaviors, mission, the impact you’re after—and link it to how the company works. 

This phase transforms your startup into something more structured and sets the stage for the next phase of growth.

Phase 2: 30 to 60 – Managing Complexity

By the time you reach 30 and heading toward 60, the game shifts again. Your functional teams are now splitting into smaller sub-teams: tech divides into developers and product people, while your go-to-market function splits into sales and marketing. It gets harder to keep track of everything. 

As a founder, you are still making most calls, but with more people, you can’t stay on top of it all. You need more management in the middle now, but your early hires might not know how to lead. You send them to management training, but they may not be up to it, or right for it. You’re thinking about bringing in new managers from the outside, but you don’t want to upset the old team. Leadership gets stretched either way.  

Communication gets even more complicated. Some people know what’s happening, others miss the details. You either have too many meetings (which ties up people’s time) or too few. It’s hard to keep everyone on the same page. The rumour mill gets stronger.

The way your team feels changes too. New people might not get enough help starting out, so they take longer to get going, which can be frustrating to the existing team. They also bring different habits, while the early folks might cling to the old ways. You have your culture defined and values listed, but if people don’t follow them, tension grows - quietly at first and then it starts getting louder.

This phase is hard. People can burn out. The earlier phases have been fast and chaotic. To overcome the challenges of this phase, you need a leadership layer. Pick good managers for each function and make sure they both understand your vision and have the capability to execute. Then step back and let them lead.

Start to build an in-house People team that sources and screens candidates systematically, while making sure that jobs are clear and don’t have overlap. This will keep your hiring bar high as the pace picks up. 

Phase 3: 60 to 100+ – Becoming an Organisation

When you hit 60 and go toward 100 or more, you’re running a real company, not a startup anymore. You’ve got multiple departments now, and just working hard doesn’t cut it anymore - sorry, but you need proper management systems. 

Every team has a manager, but they’re not all doing it the same way. Some need training, and they don’t always know what good managing looks like. You need leaders above them too, like VPs or directors. 

Some early hires can’t handle the level or type of work anymore. When you hired them, they were generalists. They got stuck in and thrived on uncertainty. Structure doesn’t suit them in the same way. And they can be challenged by new people coming in with experience that outstrips their understanding. Changing them out is tough, because they’re loyal and you want to reward them. 

Knowing what matters becomes key at this size. Your big goal might still sound good, but if it doesn’t turn into clear quarterly targets, it’s hard to follow. You need a system, like OKRs or regular planning, to keep everyone on track. 

Your company culture needs to be actively shaped and maintained as growing teams form sub-cultures. If what you reward doesn’t match your values, people will take note. As a founder, you don’t meet every new hire anymore, and this can feel weird, especially if you have been a big part of the company’s identity.

Here’s what to do: Train your managers and agree on what good managing is. Hire or move up leaders who can handle the new responsibility, say goodbye to team members who are not a good fit anymore, even if it’s hard. 

Use a planning system like OKRs to set clear goals. Rethink your communication plan. Make the process for performance reviews, compensation and promotions clear and transparent. Keep your culture strong by matching rewards to values. 

Once you’re past 100 people, you’ll need a solid HR team to catch problems early and also start managing your employer brand. 

This last phase is transformative for the company. Once you’ve gone through it, you will have set proper systems in place for further growth.

Your Path From 10 to 100

Scaling from 10 to 100 unfolds across three phases: 10-30, where you find structure; 30-60, where you manage complexity; and 60-100+, where you become a fully-fledged organisation.

Each phase shapes your team and tests your leadership. If you don’t grow with those challenges, you will find half your time swallowed by People chaos instead of driving actual progress for your company. 

Where do you stand today? Here’s some questions to consider. 

If you’re between 10 and 30, ask yourself: Are we focused on the critical priorities - keeping close to our customers and defining and redefining our product-market fit? Are we doing just enough to carry us forward every single day? Are we lean enough to pivot and adapt?

For those in the 30-to-60 phase, consider: Am I able to devolve some decisions to a few other leaders I trust, or am I still tangled in the details? Is our alignment clear or are too many people pulling in different directions? If so, how do I get them back on track?

If you’re pushing past 60 toward 100, think: Do our systems match our size, or do we need an upgrade? Are we hiring the right people with experience and specialisms that will take us to the next level? Do we have good management and am I giving my leaders enough room to operate?

If one of these questions touches a nerve, then reach out. We’re here to help you navigate the messiness of scaling. Leadership can be lonely. If you need a sounding board, we’re here.