189. How to build a $10M company without meetings or managers, with James Hawkins, Co-CEO at PostHog

🎧 Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning psychology podcast from the HubSpot Podcast Network, hosted by Chartered Occupational Psychologist Leanne Elliott and business owner Al Elliott. This week, we’re joined by James Hawkins, co-founder and co-CEO of PostHog—a dev tools company turning $10M+ ARR without any managers, meetings, or micromanagement. James’s approach? Treat your company like a bunch of tiny startups. 👀 If you’ve ever wondered what work would feel like without middle managers, weekly check-ins, and change committees… this is your episode. 💡 Key Takeaways from James Hawkins ⚙️ Small Teams > Big Bureaucracy James explains how structuring PostHog into autonomous 2–6 person teams has helped them ship faster, stay scrappy, and avoid the productivity drag of large orgs. 🔁 Engineers Lead, Managers Step Aside Forget micromanagement. At PostHog, engineers decide what gets built—and team leads don’t even get paid more. 💥 Just Ship It Forget pre-meetings and permission-seeking. PostHog favours “build it and test it” over endless validation and speculation. 🔍 Radical Transparency From salaries to sabbatical policies, PostHog runs almost everything in public. Their internal company handbook? It’s online for the world to read. 🚀 Chaos is a Feature, Not a Bug James shows how a dose of “organised chaos” can unlock innovation, ownership, and next-level productivity—if you hire the right people. 🔗 Resources & Links PostHog website https://posthog.com/ James on X (Twitter) https://x.com/james406 PostHog’s Newsletter https://newsletter.posthog.com/ 📢 Enjoyed this episode? Follow or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, leave a review, and share this episode with a fellow founder, engineer or curious manager who wants to do work differently. And come say hi on LinkedIn—we’d love to hear your thoughts. 🧠 General Support with Mental Health and Well-being If you’ve been affected by anything in this episode or are currently struggling with your mental health, the following resources may help: Mind: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/ Samaritans (UK): Call 116 123 or email [email protected] 💬 Connect with Al & Leanne LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork/ Al: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott/ Leanne: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne Email: [email protected] Book a call: https://savvycal.com/meetleanne/chat