The hidden structures that make 10 → 100 hires actually work
Growing a startup from 10 to 50 people? That’s the easy part.
A great product, capital in the bank, and a half-decent hiring funnel will get you there. But going from 10 → 100 → 500 without breaking? That’s where things start falling apart.
For some startups, scaling feels seamless — like a well-rehearsed orchestra. For others, it’s chaos: culture dilution, leadership gaps, hiring mistakes, and a general loss of productivity.
So, what separates the teams that scale smoothly from the ones that crumble under their own weight?
Let’s break it down.
Scaling Isn’t Just “Hiring More” — It’s “Structuring Right”
At 10 people, it’s easy. Decisions happen over lunch, coordination is informal, and culture is absorbed by osmosis. But at 50+? If you don’t intentionally build structure, the company builds its own — often in the worst way possible.
Common failure patterns:
Too many managers, not enough doers — You wake up one day, and half the team is “managing” instead of executing.
Hiring ahead of clarity — People are added to “fix problems,” but no one knows what their real job is.
Lack of ‘glue people’ — No experienced operators to connect strategy to execution.
What’s needed instead? Process — but lightweight.
Clear reporting lines — Without turning into a corporate bureaucracy.
Defined decision-making authority — Who calls the shots on what?
Strong documentation & knowledge-sharing — So people don’t waste time repeating the same mistakes.
Scaling isn’t about hiring fast — it’s about designing how the team works before things break.
Hiring Strategy at 10 vs. 100 → Knowing When to Shift
Your hiring playbook has to change at every stage.
0 → 10 hires = Generalists who figure things out.
10 → 50 hires = Specialists who execute efficiently.
50 → 100 hires = Leaders who build and scale teams.
The biggest hiring mistake? Bringing in leadership too late (or worse, the wrong leadership).
By the time you hit 30–50 employees, you need:
A true People/HR leader — Not just recruiters, but someone who understands org design and talent development.
Mid-level managers who aren’t just former ICs — The best ICs don’t always make great leaders.
Ops/process thinkers — People who make things run faster without adding complexity.
If you don’t get these in place early, you’ll struggle with:
Founder bottleneck — The CEO is still making every decision.
Execution chaos — No one knows who ……
(This article was originally written on Medium, Click here to read more)
