Small design teams are winning
Design has become a series of theatrical productions.
Before anything gets built, there are spec reviews of spec reviews. Design critiques require pre-meetings to align on what will be critiqued. Getting the simplest feature approved means navigating fifteen stakeholders, each armed with their own product vision and favourite Steve Jobs quote.
Consequently, designers spend more energy managing this process than solving problems. Every pixel choice becomes a diplomatic negotiation, and every user flow runs through committees searching for edge cases that might happen to 0.01% of users.
I shared these observations in a post on LinkedIn last week, and it sparked a lively discussion. Designers from various backgrounds weighed in on the pros and cons of working in small versus large organisations, adding valuable nuance and depth to the conversation.
One commenter noted that the challenges designers face can vary widely depending on an organisation’s design maturity and culture:
“Often times if the company has low design process maturity, the designer is a generalist. They also have to work extra hard against design misconceptions and prove their worth, often being adaptable and innovative in the process.”
Another pointed out that the key advantage comes not from team size itself, but from alignment and close collaboration:
“The advantage truly sets in when you work with a close-knit cross-functional team who are all in that conference room or Zoom, building it with you, sold on the same vision.”
These insights highlight the complexity of the issue. But there’s no denying that a growing number of founders are opting for smaller, more integrated teams. After raising money (and more are choosing not to), they’re ignoring the pressure to build big teams. Instead, they’re working directly with two or three designers who shape products through conversation, not committees.
When designers and founders work this closely, the fog of process lifts. As a result, bad ideas die faster, good ideas evolve naturally, and design decisions flow from real user problems, not stakeholder politics.
This shift splits designers into two camps. Some crave the predictability of big tech: clear career ladders, established processes, and safety in numbers. They see small teams as chaotic and unsustainable. Others find big tech’s safety suffocating. They want to shape products, not presentations. They’ve seen how politics and process kill good design. For them, small teams offer something rare in tech: the chance to design with conviction.
Neither group is wrong. Building great products requires both types of designers. Big tech will continue to need specialists who can navigate complex org charts and keep the trains running on time. But the most exciting opportunities are shifting to smaller teams. As AI and automation start to reshape tech, companies are realising they can do more with less. Bloated headcounts are becoming liabilities, not assets. And agility is the new competitive advantage.
Now, a small team with the right skills can build products that reach millions. Designers aren’t just pixel-pushers, but strategic partners in shaping a business.
However, this path has challenges. Without the brand names of big tech on your resume, your work has to speak for itself. There’s no process to blame for bad decisions, no corporate ladder to climb. Success means building products that create real value for users and the business.
But for designers who want their work to have direct impact, who care more about solving problems than claiming titles, this is where the action is. It’s the thrill of seeing your design touch lives, the tight feedback loops of working hand-in-hand with founders, and the creative freedom to explore ideas without wading through bureaucracy.
Will this shift last? It’s hard to say. Big tech’s gravity is strong. The prestige of managing large teams is alluring, and process is safe and comfortable.
But right now, in small teams across the industry, designers have a rare opportunity to shape products at their core. They can rediscover the soul of their craft and remember why they became designers in the first place.
The theatrics will continue. The big tech parade will march on. But the designers who want to build the next great products now know where to look — in the small teams, with the hard problems, where process takes a backseat to progress.
Hi, I’m Mindaugas.
I’ve spent the past decade working with designers from companies like Netflix, Google, Amazon, Intercom, and OpenAI. At On Deck, I built the Design Fellowship, and at InVision, I created design communities on a global scale. Before this, I was a design recruiter which enabled me to help 100’s of designers land their dream jobs.
Through thousands of conversations, I’ve helped designers navigate career transitions, land roles they didn’t think possible, get promotions, and understand what’s happening in the market.
Now, I’m building Coho, a private network for designers to have the kinds of conversations that change careers. Small, focused groups meet every two weeks to tackle challenges, exchange insights, and grow together.
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