startup strategy

ElevenLabs Startup Methodology: Split into 20 Small Teams, Disbanded After 6 Months Without PMF

Honghao Wang

— 3 min read
ElevenLabs Startup Methodology: Split into 20 Small Teams, Disbanded After 6 Months Without PMF

ElevenLabs’ Rapid Iteration Playbook

Mati Staniszewski, CEO of ElevenLabs, shared the company's unique approach at an a16z event.

> You have six months to prove Product-Market Fit (PMF).

> Succeed, and continue; fail, and disband.

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Despite growing to 350 employees, ElevenLabs still runs with extreme speed and focus.

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The 6-Month Lifeline

Structure:

  • 20 product squads, each 5–10 people
  • Fully autonomous teams
  • 6-month proof period to reach PMF

Outcome:

  • Succeed → Keep building the product
  • Fail → Squad is disbanded

Philosophy:

From day one, you can have an impact.

If you’re smart, fast, and passionate, you can rise quickly.

Role Naming:

  • Engineers: Member of Technical Staff
  • Commercial team: Go-to-Market

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Cutting Slack Access to Boost Focus

Mati revealed a counterintuitive productivity hack:

> Too much transparency → too much distraction.

Key Insight:

  • Adding people to all Slack channels leads to information overload.
  • People inevitably read everything, even unrelated messages.
  • Restricting access forces concentration on the mission.
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(Unrelated image from a group chat)

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Commission Rules Lag Behind Strategy

As ElevenLabs grew from 30 to 350 employees, behavior shifted:

  • Early stage: People acted on passion and company-first thinking
  • Later stage: Salespeople focused narrowly on commission structure

Reality:

> Commission rules are always behind the company's strategy.

Example Incident:

  • Salesperson found a big deal with a competitor
  • Requested to demo the product’s model
  • Deal was blocked — aligned with long-term interests
  • Commission still paid (sales acted in good faith)
  • New policy: No selling tech to competitors

Final Policy:

If a deal boosts KPIs but harms long-term strategy:

  • Flag it
  • Cancel it
  • Still count it toward commission credit
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(Unrelated image)

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When Research Lags, Product Steps In

Story:

  • A user asked for a speech generation speed slider
  • Research team refused — wanted automatic detection for optimal speed
  • 9 months passed with no solution
  • Product team shipped the slider → Users loved it

New Rule:

> If a new method shows no results in 3 months, ship anything that works.

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Key Takeaways from ElevenLabs

ElevenLabs shows how rapid iteration, tight focus, and clear policy enforcement can work at scale:

Core Principles:

  • 6-month product lifeline — no PMF, no continuation
  • Controlled information flow to prevent distraction
  • Strategic override on commission rules
  • Practical fallback when research stalls

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Applying This Mindset

With AI accelerating product cycles, these principles can be adapted more broadly.

For AI-powered creators, platforms like AiToEarn官网 provide tools to:

  • Generate AI content
  • Publish across multiple platforms simultaneously
  • Track and analyze performance
  • Access AI模型排名 to benchmark models

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Watch the Full Talk

You can see the full discussion on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqCEHR4wjxg

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Pro Tip for Creators:

Open-source tools like AiToEarn make it easy to:

  • Produce AI-assisted multimedia content
  • Publish instantly to major platforms
  • Analyze engagement
  • Turn creativity into sustainable income

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Would you like me to add diagram-style visuals showing the 6-month product cycle and decision-tree process? That would make this even more digestible.

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