Post on Medial

I have personally found smaller teams better for me. More people = More conflict = Slower work = More frustration.

Under 10 people if you have raised <2M USD and are pure-internet startup with no offline plays. Under 15 people in most other cases. Happy building :)

From fundraising perspective I have heard two things about lean startups. One that they are obviously more efficient, the other narrative (idk how true) is that a lot of investors after a significant funding round force you to hire people to grow. Who knows. :P

Most great pure-tech startups are super lean. I guess Whatsapp had hardly 18 members when it crossed 50- million users. The leaner the better. Plus when you outsource it brings certain challenges- coordinating with a 3rd party, expectation mismatch, reiterations if things aren’t communicated well and conflicts in extreme cases. Most of the times the hassle isn’t worth it in early stage. Outsourcing is a great tool if you are a large org. My previous company outsourced most legal work outside and used a lot of outside tools to get certain functionalities in their app.

Only outsource things that are non-core to your product. Core elements SHOULD absolutely be built in-house. Period.

If you are not funded, then keep the costs low, build as fast as you can but on your own. This will allow you to learn more and execute better in long term.

Depends on how much funds you have. Outsourcing makes sense if it saves significant time without burning too much capital.