How big should a product team be now?

For a decade the answer was simple: raise money, hire people, ship more. Now small teams ship products that once took fifty people, investors ask why a company needs its next twenty hires, and managers are unsure which roles will look the same in two years.

Wei Chen, who has spent the past year asking founders exactly this question in board meetings, chairs a conversation with three people who make the decision for real. Amara Boateng has grown Fernway to three hundred people without layoffs. Noah Whitaker took Monogram’s engineering team from twelve to two hundred. Grace Liu runs product teams across nine countries at Orbital.

They will disagree, and that is the point. Expect concrete numbers: team sizes, ratios, the hires they regret and the ones they would make again tomorrow, and an honest account of what AI tools have and have not changed inside their own companies.

What you will take away

• How four leaders size teams today, and what changed their minds
• Where AI tools have reduced the need for headcount in practice, and where they have not
• Questions to ask before you open your next role