January 22, 2025

How to Build Small Startup Teams That Win

Ron Zionpour

VP of R&D
January 22, 2025

One of my clearest childhood memories is playing one of the earliest Nintendo models with my cousin in his living room. We were just first graders back then, investing hours on hours of the same game — Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989 edition). Every weekend I stayed over at his place, we’d wake up early on Saturday mornings, ready to dive back in. Over time, we developed our own strategies to beat the game. We trusted each other, and with almost zero frustration over each failure, we refined our approach, and became obsessed with finishing it.

Then, after weeks of work… one unforgettable Saturday, we did it!

Looking back, the big win wasn’t about beating the game. It was about the partnership we built, the trust we earned, and the method we crafted together. Each of us became a master in our own right, each of us felt the weight of responsibility on our shoulders to achieve this, and as a team, we were unstoppable.

While life progressed significantly since that Saturday, and as I grew up, video games became less part of my life, while working with people and building teams remained and became the core of what I do today. Throughout the years I’ve been working in many teams, with different delivery methods, different structures and different sizes.

In this post, I’ll take a quick look at the key benefits of small teams working together and why certain conditions only work with small teams, helping them achieve bigger success. But before we dive deep into details let’s try and illustrate why smaller teams often lead to bigger wins — think back to one of your most impactful achievements in the last five years. Chances are, it was something you led on your own — a decision you made, a project you built with your own hands, or an initiative that filled you with pride, not just for its impact on business, users, or a cause, but for how personal it felt.

That sense of accomplishment is difficult to replicate in large teams. With accountability spread too thin and dependencies piling up, it’s easy for failures to feel like they’re someone else’s fault. Smaller teams remove those barriers, fostering ownership and direct responsibility for the outcomes.

Small Teams: The How To

First things first — small teams are NOT just a scaled-down version of large teams. They’re fundamentally different in how they operate and what they can achieve.

Clear boundaries  

One common mistake, for example in product teams, is breaking a big team into smaller teams like “platform 1” and “platform 2”. This usually ends up in a mess, confusion, overlapping work, and goals all over the place; this is a big no no. Team split works best when splitting ownership and goals, and when setting clear boundaries.

Key skills for teams to embrace — by focusing on talent density, versatility, accountability, and trust, small teams unlock a level of agility and impact that large task forces can’t replicate.

Talent Density

A small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players. — Steve Jobs

When you’re working with a small team, there’s no room for mediocrity. Every team member plays a pivotal role, and their skills have a direct impact on outcomes. It’s about quality over quantity — a team of five rockstars will outshine a team of 50 average performers any day.

High talent density doesn’t mean chasing after resumes loaded with titles and years of experience. It’s about finding individuals who excel in their craft and thrive in collaborative environments, at Healthee we call it Ever-Rise, a core value that defines the people who drive the company forward, each with their own skillset, but all with an endless resilience to take any challenge upon themselves. Excellence becomes contagious — everyone brings their A-game because they know it matters, whether you’re an intern or a seasoned pro with 20 years of experience.

Versatility

First time I heard the phrase “T-Shaped individuals” was at the University, where one of the lecturers proudly said the University goal is to make T-Shaped individuals — people with deep expertise in one area and a broad range of complementary skills. In teams, versatility helps members give and receive feedback, improving the final result and allowing everyone to take on different roles.

For example, a designer might double as a product strategist, and a developer might moonlight as a customer support lead. This cross-functional approach eliminates silos, boosts collaboration, and ensures that everyone is working toward the same goal.
Larger teams often struggle with fragmentation — too many cooks and too many kitchens.

Accountability

or… Building a team where everyone is a Product Owner

More than 20 years ago, when the Scrum framework started gaining popularity among software developers, it introduced a new role: the Product Owner. According to Scrum.org, the “official” definition of a Product Owner is “someone responsible for maximizing the value of the product created by the Development Team”.

In my opinion, having such a role in a team today, especially in small teams, is unnecessary and even harmful. Making one person solely responsible for delivering the product’s value implies that other team members aren’t accountable for creating value for users or customers. Great team members should be able to connect their work (outputs) to outcomes, impact, and to the product’s value. It shouldn’t matter if you’re a product manager, a product designer, UX researcher, software engineer, mobile developer, product analyst, or automation engineer — being part of a team means being accountable for the team’s outcomes, goals, and success.

You might be thinking, “Ditching a key role cause confusion about who does what or who’s responsible for what?” So here’s my take: In small teams, that’s usually not a big deal. With good communication, things tend to sort themselves out.
That said, you can always set clear expectations from the start or create a simple RACI chart to map out roles. BUT here’s the catch — let the team dynamics do their thing! Avoid forcing any cookie-cutter rules. Every team is unique, so let them figure out what works best for them. 🎯

Trust

When you’ve got a small team, trust isn’t optional — it’s foundational. With fewer people, every contribution is visible and significant. This transparency fosters accountability and reliability. Each team member knows they’re counting on one another, which creates an environment where trust thrives.

One of the rare 5% in the world — an image untouched by AI 🙂 | Old-fashioned meme generator

It’s important to note that trust isn’t built just by having small teams but also by having autonomy. You’ll trust your teammates more when everyone values accountability over results, which strengthens the sense of reliability.

High trust accelerates decision-making and reduces bureaucracy. You don’t have to second-guess your teammates (although feedback and pushbacks are important) or navigate layers of approval. Instead, you communicate openly, move quickly, and focus on what really matters. Big teams often struggle with confusion and poor communication.

Switching to small teams might sound easy, but it’s not as simple as just shrinking a big team. Small teams need clear boundaries, clear goals, and a space where they can work freely and develop the right mindset to thrive.

Think about setup for success — one of my biggest takeaways from James Clear’s excellent book Atomic Habits is the importance of focusing on systems and environments, or as the author puts it: “Motivation is Overvalued; Environment Often Matters More”.

In the end

Our main job as leaders is to create the right environment and processes that help teams thrive.

Want to get it right? Start by setting the stage! Give teams their own clear responsibilities, split up domains, give each of them the north star they should follow and they’ll do the rest. Small teams, bigger wins! 🚀

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