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Telegram Messenger runs like a billion‑user app built by a startup no one told was supposed to hire thousands. Pavel Durov the founder who’s somehow part product manager, part HR, part myth runs Telegram with around 30 engineers. That’s not a typo. Thirty people. Serving roughly a billion users. Durov calls it his “Navy SEAL team”: compact, elite, and relentlessly efficient. No layers. No bureaucracy. Just high‑skill people solving high‑leverage problems. A few wild facts about how Telegram actually operates: Zero traditional HR. When asked about HR, Durov literally said, “Well, you could say it’s me.” No job postings or resumes. Developers don’t apply they compete on Contest.com, Telegram’s global coding arena. Winners of multiple contests may get invited to join the team. No interviews. No hiring loops. Just raw skill under pressure. Durov has used this model since 2007, back in his VKontakte days Telegram just perfected it. Some contests even offer outsized prizes like Android challenges where top performers can earn compensation comparable to $1M annual packages. Every engineer reports directly to him. Every product call goes through him. Every decision chain is as short as it can get: Durov → builder → shipped. It’s not “skills over structure” anymore it’s built on the faith that structure kills speed. While most big tech firms spend weeks writing job descriptions, Telegram quietly ships features that reshape how a billion people communicate without middle management, without HR, and without noise. That’s what happens when you trade LinkedIn job posts for coding contests and replace hierarchy with hunger. ~Rohit Raj, at your service