Solid to Liquid: Start-Up Edition
I think this metaphor also applies well to start-up teams as they grow from a solid state of 10 or 20 people hand-picked by the founders to a dynamic liquid state of 100+. The solid state is characterized by a tight-knit team for which every potential new hire is painstakingly scrutinized, and from which any departure feels like a death in the family. By contrast, by the time a company has fully transitioned to liquid state, it has the recruiting, HR systems and resiliency to handle two people joining and one person leaving on any given week.