If you have absolutely runaway traction in a winner-take-all market, then tripling the size of your dev team in 6 months can make a lot of sense. Facebook, Goo

If you have absolutely runaway traction in a winner-take-all market, then tripling the size of your dev team in 6 months can make a lot of sense. Facebook, Google, and Uber have all had periods of growth that fast. For example, Uber's overall employee headcount went from ~2500 at the start of 2015 to ~13,000 at the end of 2016 -- although that includes non-engineering hires. But for companies that aren't Facebook/Google/Uber? A slower growth rate is almost always the better decision.