In my career, the most impactful work I’ve done has always been on small teams. I eventually realized that this is how many important things actually get built.
Here are a few well-known examples of big things accomplished by small teams.
- SpaceX Falcon 1 – About 30 engineers developed the first privately funded liquid-fuel rocket to reach orbit in 2008.
- Pixar "Toy Story" – Completed by roughly 27 core animators/technical directors, first feature-length computer-animated film
- Instagram – 13 employees at Facebook's $1B acquisition in 2012.
- iPod: The first-generation iPod was developed by a small team of roughly 30 engineers at Apple.
- WhatsApp – 55 employees when Facebook acquired it for $19B in 2014.
- Git – Created in 2005 by Linus Torvalds with a small volunteer group.
- Berkshire Hathaway partnership – Buffett's 1956 investment partnership began with 7 limited partners and $105k in capital; by 1969 they were managing about $100M.
- Renaissance Technologies LLC – Early 1980s core of Jim Simons and a handful of mathematicians built the famous trading models that powered the Medallion Fund, which went on to deliver ~39% annual net returns since 1988. One of the best records in investing history.