Key Takeaways X runs as a lean, startup‑style operation with about 30 core product engineers, very few managers, and a flat structure, according to X’s head of product, Nikita Bier.
Most individual contributors report directly to CEO Elon Musk.
Musk holds weekly reviews where engineers present one or two slides on what they shipped, and he gives them direct feedback on their work.
Reporting to Elon Musk at X means operating in a small, flat organization where the CEO is effectively the direct manager. For Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, the job is both difficult and “a lot of fun.”
On a recent episode of the Out of Office podcast, Bier contrasted life at X with his work at other Silicon Valley giants like Meta and Discord. Bier characterized X as “essentially operating like a startup,” with 30 core engineers, plus two designers, a couple of product managers and himself. The organization is remarkably “flat” with many individual contributors reporting directly to Musk.
“The size of the engineering team is equivalent to a feature when I worked at Facebook,” he said, emphasizing that there are “very few managers.”
Nikita Bier. (Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch)
Within that lean structure, Musk is unusually hands-on. Bier says that Musk does weekly reviews “with every engineer at the company.” At these meetings, engineers present one or two slides based on what they have done that week, and Musk listens and gives feedback.
“Everyone has an incredible amount of agency,” Bier said. “We come up with an idea, we build it in a week and it’s out.”
High stakes, constant crises
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