In the early days of a startup, speed feels like the only advantage that matters. Founders hire quickly, ship fast, solve problems in real time, and keep the culture “organic.” It works. Until it doesn’t.Somewhere between 15 and 30 employees, many startups hit an invisible wall. Execution slows down. Good people get confused. Roles overlap. Managers are promoted too early. Feedback becomes emotional. Hiring turns into a gamble. And the founder becomes the default problem solver again.That moment is not a strategy problem. It is a people systems problem.Shailesh Kantak, a leadership and people systems coach and the Founder of the MSME India Network (MINT), has spent years working closely with businesses at this exact stage. “Most founders don’t fail because they lack ambition,” he says. “They get stuck because the business is still running on personal control instead of repeatable people systems.”The Real Startup Bottleneck is Not Funding, It is Team DesignStartups are built on intensity. But intensity cannot replace clarity forever. When a team grows, informal coordination stops working. What the business needs next is a simple structure, with human warmth intact.Strong people systems do not mean corporate HR. They mean clear roles, clear expectations, clear rhythms, and… Read MoreStartupTalky- Business News, Insights and Stories
