Your company has reached an inflection point. You have product-market fit, funding, and a clear mandate: scale.
But growing from 10 to 50 engineers is one of the toughest challenges a tech leader will face. The ad hoc hiring methods that got you to 10 won’t work at 50. Traditional hiring is too slow and too risky. This article breaks down the strategic models for achieving rapid, sustainable scale.
Why traditional hiring fails at scale
When you need to hire 40+ engineers in a year, the cracks show fast:
- Too slow: Average time-to-hire for a senior U.S. engineer is 60+ days.
- Dilutes quality: Your current team burns out spending hours interviewing.
- Too expensive: Recruiter fees for 40 hires can exceed $1 million — with no quality guarantee.
The scalable model: blended, elastic teams
The most effective model combines a core in-house team with a flexible, on-demand layer of nearshore talent. This"elastic" structure allows you to ramp up or down quickly without long-term overhead.
- Core onshore team: Maintains architecture, strategy, and cultural leadership.
- Nearshore talent pods: Small, integrated groups (2–5 engineers) accelerate specific projects.
- On-demand specialists: DevOps, ML, or security experts can be added instantly for short-term needs.
This model gives you speed, flexibility, and scalability — without sacrificing quality.
Howdy.com: your engine for elastic scaling
Elastic scaling only works if you have a reliable source of top talent. That’s why Howdy.com exists:
- Speed: Vetted engineers can start in as little as two weeks.
- Quality at scale: Every hire meets the same rigorous standards.
- Flexibility: Scale pods up or down as priorities shift.
Conclusion
Scaling from 10 to 50 requires a new paradigm. Elastic team models unlock the speed and quality needed for hyper-growth. With Howdy.com, you can scale quickly, sustainably, and without compromise.