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> groups of 8 work well; by 20 they're getting hard to manage; and a group of 50 is really unwieldy I made more money at my web agency when I had 10 employees
by everdev 8y ago
> groups of 8 work well; by 20 they're getting hard to manage; and a group of 50 is really unwieldy
I made more money at my web agency when I had 10 employees than when I had 20. I kept growing the business through inertia and the thought that bigger was better. I decided to sell with 20 employees rather than drop back down to 10, but by 20 it was unweildy for me to manage on my own.
The overhead described in the article from growing beyond a group of 10 I felt everyday. If I had to do it over I'd stay at 10 or less for as long as possible and prioritize connection and profits over revenue and headcount.
- jdhawk 8y agoOr add another layer of Management?
- everdev 8y agoThat's what I did when I grew to 20 and part of what increased our revenue but decreased our profitability. The article talks about the challenges of managing managers and my experience lines up with what the author describes.
- jacquesm 8y agoCompanies also have economies of scale. The 10-to-30 transition is so hard because it has to pass through 20, the moment when overhead as a fraction of total turnover is at a maximum. After that things get better again. But getting through that is a really hard thing to do.