In a world where Big Tech loves big teams, endless departments, and high-profile boardroom drama, Telegram quietly rewrote the playbook. With over 800 million monthly active users, and a valuation reportedly soaring past $30 billion, Telegram has become a global messaging juggernaut — all with just 30 employees. That’s not a typo. Thirty.
While tech behemoths like Meta and Google boast tens of thousands of employees (and still find ways to fumble updates), Telegram has taken a radically different route — minimalism. This is not just the story of an app. This is the story of how lean thinking, ideological grit, and an allergy to bureaucracy built one of the most influential communication platforms of our time.
The Rise of Telegram: Born Out of Defiance
Telegram was founded in 2013 by Pavel Durov, the elusive, often shirtless Russian tech genius who first rose to fame with VKontakte (Russia’s Facebook equivalent). After being ousted from VK by Kremlin pressure, Durov left Russia and launched Telegram — a messaging app with a strong emphasis on privacy, security, and user freedom.
From the beginning, Telegram was designed to be lean. No ads, no endless monetization gimmicks, no data selling. Just fast, encrypted messaging. The app exploded in popularity — especially among users weary of surveillance capitalism — and found devoted followers across political dissidents, crypto communities, and even businesses.
How Is This Even Possible?
Running a global platform with such a small team feels like a logistical miracle. But it’s less about magic, and more about mindset. Telegram’s infrastructure is heavily automated, streamlined, and managed by a close-knit engineering team that focuses on performance over processes.
Where other companies spend years hiring middle management, Telegram hires engineers who can build, deploy, and scale — fast. Updates are rolled out without the 57-stage approval cycles. Decisions are made swiftly. And perhaps most importantly, ego doesn’t seem to get in the way.
In Durov’s own words: “The fewer people you have in your team, the faster you move.”
Profits, Problems, and Parisian Drama
In 2024, Telegram reportedly crossed $500 million in profits, thanks to its optional Premium subscriptions and its increasing use in financial and business networks.
But it hasn’t been all sunshine and end-to-end encryption. Founder Pavel Durov is currently facing legal pressure in France over Telegram’s content moderation policies. Critics argue the platform isn’t doing enough to curb extremist and illegal content. Durov, of course, remains staunch in his defense of free speech — a stance that has made him both a cult hero and a regulatory nightmare.
Still, while governments debate the ethics of encrypted platforms, users continue to flock to Telegram in record numbers.
The Future of Work? Telegram Might Be Living It.
Telegram’s ultra-lean model flies in the face of traditional Silicon Valley wisdom. It doesn’t throw money at problems. It doesn’t care about being the loudest in the room. And it certainly doesn’t believe in bloated corporate org charts.
Instead, it’s proving something quietly revolutionary: a tech empire doesn’t need 10,000 engineers — it just needs 30 good ones who know what they’re doing.
As the rest of the industry grapples with layoffs, AI panic, and regulatory chokeholds, Telegram continues to thrive on simplicity, privacy, and just enough chaos to keep things interesting.