Hub-and-Spoke Lean Team Model
Keep a small cross-functional core and scale execution through specialists
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 98%
Design the company as a tight internal hub connected to scalable external spokes. The hub contains a small number of highly capable operators who each own multiple related concerns and can connect consequences without scheduling handoff meetings. The spokes are agencies, brokers, recruiters, or other specialists managed by those hub owners. This structure separates judgment and institutional context, which stay close to the company, from execution capacity that can expand outside it. The speed advantage comes from reducing coordination: a combined COO/CFO can immediately translate an operating event into financial action, while two separate departments may need several meetings. The model should not hide the true labor supporting the brand; it deliberately keeps payroll small while acknowledging that many external people contribute.
Origin
Will Nitz described IQ Bar's internal group as a tight hub, supported by spokes including agencies and retail brokers. He said the company had tried making the hub larger and repeatedly regretted it.
Core principles
- 01Keep the internal decision-making hub deliberately small
- 02Let strong operators hold related functions together
- 03Use external specialists as scalable spokes
- 04Minimize coordination cost before adding headcount
How to run it
- 1
Define the hub
Identify the decisions, context, and core competencies that must stay inside the company.
Pro tip Keep authority with people who can connect multiple related domains.
Watch out A small payroll is not the same as a one-person operation.
- 2
Combine compatible domains
Give exceptional operators ownership of related functions so decisions can happen in their heads rather than across meetings.
Pro tip Pair domains where events in one routinely change decisions in the other.
Watch out Do not overload an operator who cannot genuinely hold both contexts.
- 3
Attach specialist spokes
Use agencies, brokers, and other partners for bounded specialist execution outside the core competency.
Pro tip Assign one accountable hub owner to each spoke.
Watch out Outsourcing ownership itself creates confusion.
- 4
Set acceptable outcomes
Define the performance level each spoke must deliver for the overall model to work.
Pro tip A scalable 85% result may beat a rare internal 100% hire.
Watch out Acceptable does not mean unmeasured.
- 5
Audit coordination cost
Track meeting load, decision latency, partner performance, and whether doubling a channel requires proportional internal hiring.
Pro tip Expand the hub only when evidence shows the current design has become the constraint.
Watch out Professionalizing by reflex can slow the company.
In the wild
Nitz described a small internal team connected to a paid-ads agency, an Amazon agency, and separate brokers for Costco, Walmart, and Target. Internal owners retained context while partners supplied specialist capacity.
→ He said the structure could scale channels faster than building each capability internally.
Nitz used a COO/CFO as a hypothetical example of one person connecting an operational event directly to its financial consequences, without cross-department meetings.
→ The combined context shortens the path from event to action.
Common mistakes
Counting only employees
The model relies on many external contributors, so presenting payroll headcount as total labor is misleading.
Outsourcing the core competency
Work that defines the company's advantage should remain in the hub unless the company consciously changes its model.
Adding layers to look professional
Nitz said expanding the hub on conventional advice created regret rather than better performance.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for growing companies with a few strong generalists and specialist work that credible partners can perform.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when regulated, proprietary, or mission-critical work cannot safely sit with outside partners.
From the transcript
“We created what's called what I like to call a hub and spoke model.”
“It's better to keep it small.”
From the episode
631: He Built a $125M Brain Food Brand With Just 10 People
Will Nitz