Startup org chart example
A 25-person software company a year after its Series A: functional at the top, squads underneath, and product managers with a solid line to product and a dotted one to the squad they actually spend their days in.
How a software startup is usually structured
At this size a startup is functional: engineering, product, design, sales, customer success, and a finance-and-people role that will split in two by the next funding round. The CEO has six or seven direct reports, which is about the maximum before a COO appears. A chief of staff, if there is one, is staff — beside the CEO, not a layer below.
Engineering is where the shape gets interesting. Past eight or ten engineers, the CTO stops managing individuals and squads form, each with an engineering manager — usually the first two senior engineers, now player-coaches. The squads are named after what they own (platform, product, growth), not after technologies.
Product managers are the matrix. They report to the head of product for craft, priorities and career, and dotted-line into the squad they work with every day. Designers usually stay in a design team for the same reason. The dotted line is not decoration: it's who a PM's engineering manager goes to when the roadmap and the sprint disagree.
Typical titles by level
The vocabulary these charts use, from the top down. Titles vary by country and by company; the levels don't.
| Level | Titles you'll see |
|---|---|
| Leadership | CEO, CTO, COO (usually after about 40 people), Head of Product or CPO, Head of Design, VP Sales, Head of Customer Success, Head of Finance & People, Chief of Staff |
| Managers and leads | Engineering Manager, Tech Lead (often not a manager), Product Lead, Design Lead, Sales Manager, Support Lead, People Ops Lead |
| Individual contributors | Senior Engineer, Engineer, Data Engineer, Product Manager, Product Designer, Account Executive, Sales Development Rep, Customer Success Manager, Support Engineer, Recruiter |
| What appears later | VP Engineering (between the CTO and the managers), Director of Product, RevOps, Solutions Engineer, Finance Manager, Head of Marketing |
Where these charts go wrong
Startup charts go stale fastest of any: the one drawn in January is wrong by March. Common failures are a CTO with fourteen direct reports because 'we're flat', product managers drawn inside engineering so nobody owns the roadmap, and a chart that is really the fundraising deck's org slide — aspirational, with people who don't exist yet drawn as if they did.
Questions people ask
- Should product managers report to engineering?
- Usually not. Give them a solid line to a head of product (or the CEO while there isn't one) and a dotted line to their squad's engineering manager. A PM who reports to engineering tends to become a project manager for the sprint; one with no line into the squad tends to write documents nobody builds.
- How do you show squads or pods on an org chart?
- One engineering manager per squad, engineers stacked underneath, with the PM and designer drawn in their own functions and dotted-lined in. Name the squad in the manager's title ('Engineering Manager, Platform') so it survives the export.
- What does a startup org chart look like at 10, 25 and 50 people?
- At 10, everyone reports to a founder. At 25 (this chart), functions have heads and engineering has squads. At 50, a VP Engineering sits between the CTO and the managers, sales has regions or segments, and a COO or head of operations takes finance, people and legal off the CEO.
- When do you need engineering managers?
- When the CTO has more than about eight engineers, or when two squads want different things from the same person. The first managers are the senior engineers who are already doing the job informally; the chart just admits it.
Other industries
- ManufacturingTwo shifts, and quality kept out of production's line.
- LogisticsDispatch runs the day; supervisors run the people.
- ConstructionOffice and field, meeting on every project.
- NonprofitThe board on top, programs beside the money.
- Medical practiceA clinical line and a business line, crossing at nursing.
- SchoolDepartments led by teachers who also manage.
- HotelSix divisions around one general manager.
- Marketing agencyDisciplines own people; pods own the work.
- Security & facilities servicesSites stacked under supervisors; a 24-hour control room.
- Sales teamRegions for closers, a team for openers, RevOps beside them.
- Accounting firmA partner pyramid, three service lines.
- Law firmPractice groups, and the business side that runs the firm.
- ChurchA board that governs, a pastor who leads, ministries below.
- RestaurantFront of house and back of house, meeting at the pass.
- IT departmentRun, build and secure, under one director.
- HR departmentPartners, specialists and operations: the three legs.
- Local governmentElected above appointed, and two officers who answer to the council.
- Utility companyField crews, a 24-hour control center, and a regulator in the room.
- BankThree lines of defense, drawn as lines.
- Staffing agencySales desks, recruiting desks, and a back office that pays two thousand people.
- HospitalTwo hierarchies that meet at the bedside.
- Retail chainHead office, the field, and a store drawn once.
- Small businessOne owner, two managers, and the jobs the owner still does.
- Finance departmentAccounting closes the books; FP&A says what they mean.
- Marketing departmentDemand, product, brand, and the operations under all three.
- Customer service departmentTeams on the floor; quality, training and scheduling beside them.
- Engineering departmentProduct teams under a VP of engineering; platform, data and security under the CTO.
- Operations departmentSupply chain, fulfillment and the functions that keep both honest.
- Product departmentProduct, design, research and the operations that measure them.
- Consulting firmThree practices, one firm behind them, and no engagement on the chart.
- Real estate brokerageAgents who are not employees, on the chart anyway.
- Insurance agencySales on one side, service on the other, and the lines where they meet.
- Dental practiceA clinical line the law draws, and a business line the office manager runs.
- UniversityAn academic line and an administrative line, and governance kept off the chart.
- E-commerce companyThe site is the store, the warehouse is a contractor, and the lines between them are drawn.
- Veterinary clinicThe doctors own the medicine, the manager owns the day, and the technicians answer to both.
- Auto dealershipThe front end sells the cars; the back end pays the bills; the chart shows where they meet.
- School districtSchools on one line, the money on another, and a board that governs from a second chart.
- Police departmentPatrol takes the calls, investigations takes the cases, and professional standards answers to the chief alone.
- Nursing homeThe administrator holds the license, the director of nursing holds the building, and the survey reads both lines.
- Property management companyThe owners and the boards are clients, the site staff are employees, and the chart is where the two facts meet.
Or start from a structure — functional, divisional, matrix or flat — or from your own spreadsheet. The guides cover a reorg, a merger, an assistant's chart and a consultant's deliverable.
Make it yours
Download the spreadsheet, replace the names, import it — the chart redraws itself. Or start empty and drag people until it's true. Building is free at any size.