Ask HN: How big is your IT staff? How big in YC companies?

[Uchikoma]

In the second edition of my ebook "12 Things to Reduce Your Lead Time and Time to Market" I would like to know about the optimal percentage of IT staff depending on company type. Obviously there is a correlation between the size of IT and time to market (the bigger the better?) and I would like to include this in the next ebook. I've also created a survey monkey form

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=N3_2fcIesPy8lFdzvHTor2cw_3d_3d

It would be kind if you could answer 5 questions (30 sec max :-) Thanks.

[swombat]

Obviously there is a correlation between the size of IT and time to market (the bigger the better?)

No, actually. It's certainly the case for start-ups that smaller is better. Smaller is more nimble, more creative, less politics-driven, and forced to focus on what matters (because you can't afford anything else).

I'd say a team of 2-4 technical founders/early employees is ideal, though it's certainly possible to do it with just 1. More than that and you'll spend more time managing staff that building things.

Of course, it all depends on what you're building, too. However, to reduce your lead time, reducing the team size is a good thing for start-ups.

[ScottWhigham → swombat]

I don't care what it is but anytime anyone makes a statement on HN there's always someone waiting to say, "No, actually."

Look - there's no way you can definitively say, "No" or "Yes" because there are so many different situations. Funded vs. non-funded, competitive market vs. build the market, require proprietary hardware vs. web app, etc. How the hell can we say, "Smaller is better" if we are trying to build a legitimate competitor to Google? Clearly it hasn't been (historically speaking).

Enough with the absolutes - there is a correlation between the size of IT and time to market in many situations yet in others there is none.