A hugely important question in startups is how to maximise the productivity of a very small team. We know that it’s possible for very small teams to have a disproportionate impact on the world - Instagram and Whatsapp had 13 and 55 employees respectively when acquired - so how can we make these situations more likely?
Tyler Cowen has an interesting, and typically Cowen-esque,
post on the topic. I am a little biased, as he basically is espousing the EF philosophy of team building, but I find this idea particularly insightful:
If you are seeking to foment change, take care to bring together people who have a relatively good chance of forming a small group together. Perhaps small groups of this kind are the fundamental units of social change, noting that often the small groups will be found within larger organizations. The returns to “person A meeting person B” arguably are underrated, and perhaps more philanthropy should be aimed toward this end.