Telegram, the global messaging app, is rewriting the rulebook on how to scale a technology business. Despite being valued at nearly $30 billion (Ksh 3.8 trillion) and boasting hundreds of millions of users, the company operates with a famously lean setup.
Its secret? A radical approach to efficiency, automation, and trust, led by founder Pavel Durov.
Telegram achieves massive global reach with an unbelievably small team. The firm runs on a model of extreme efficiency that shuns traditional corporate structures.
This structure proves that monumental scale does not require an equally massive overhead.
“Massive impact doesn’t always require massive teams, just sharp systems and sharper vision.”
Founder Pavel Durov, known for his previous work on the Russian social network VKontakte, built Telegram on principles of streamlined operations and high autonomy.
Durov’s philosophy relies on trusting a small team of elite specialists and automating everything else. The emphasis is on deep technical skills over managerial hierarchy.
This lean approach is primarily enabled by Automation as the platform relies heavily on advanced coding and smart systems to manage scaling, maintenance, and basic user issues.
Extreme trust as each of the 30 employees is highly skilled and given considerable responsibility, eliminating the need for layers of middle management and bureaucratic oversight, and remote focus because operating without a central office cuts significant costs and time associated with real estate, commute, and internal meetings.
The lack of an HR department or multiple office locations is not an oversight, it is a conscious design choice. In the traditional tech world, growth often means adding layers of bureaucracy that slow down decision-making.
Telegram has deliberately avoided this corporate bloat to remain agile and fast-moving. This allows them to focus resources almost entirely on technical development and server infrastructure.
Durov’s model suggests that most large companies are burdened by unnecessary process and personnel. For a high-tech platform, efficiency is arguably the most valuable asset.
By Erastus Omondi
