What he means by "no middle management" probably is that people are left to their own devices with little oversight and direction. That sounds good - until you

What he means by "no middle management" probably is that people are left to their own devices with little oversight and direction. That sounds good - until you work in an environment where direction is missing. The worst job I ever had was getting paid to do whatever the hell I felt like. Everybody working on the same goal, in the same direction, is next to impossible to achieve, when it happens it's pure luck. It has nothing to do with the qualities of the individuals. Of course, this starts at the top - adding middle managers when the top doesn't direct adequately sure won't help. I worked for a startup in the dot com era that everybody knows, which was eventually sold for a large sum (not a website, infrastructure/OS). I saw it a lot - and I myself was guilty of doing it - hiring people with great qualifications but we (and I) had no idea what to do with them! We just hired them. We (and I) gave them no directions. I'm somewhat ashamed of how I myself failed back then, but on the other hand not really - at 20-something the experience just isn't there. Slightly related, I recommend this video for a perspective on "innovation": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo (The true history of Silicon Valley. TL;DR: Gigantic government funding for R&D during WWII made it possible, only then came private capital.)