Why 10-Person Teams Will Build the Next Billion-Dollar Startups

Nicholas Kuhne
Nov 20
3 min read

The Serial Founder Who’s Always One Step Ahead

Raj Singh has had the kind of tech journey that most startup founders can only dream of. He’s built and sold companies to Salesforce, Mozilla, and Cookpad. He’s worked on everything from smart calendars to AI-powered meeting summaries, live video to dating apps. Now, as VP of Product at Mozilla, Raj is leading bold bets into the future of GenAI and product innovation.

In this episode, we dig into Raj’s early days, his takes on hiring in the AI age, and why small teams might just be the future of tech unicorns.

From Sun Microsystems to Soloist.ai

Raj’s origin story starts at Sun Microsystems, where as a college intern he worked on the now-defunct Java Card. The era was filled with rebellion, file sharing, and anti-Microsoft stickers. But more importantly, it was the age of full-stack engineering in its truest, rawest form. Building anything meant mastering servers, power, cooling, and hardware.

Fast-forward to today, Raj leads product development at Mozilla and is working on Soloist.ai, an AI-powered website builder designed for small businesses. What used to take 5 weeks can now be built in 5 minutes.

GenAI Levels the Playing Field – So Now What?

The central theme of this episode? GenAI has democratised access to fractional expertise. With the right prompts and mindset, anyone can build almost anything. So where does that leave talented individuals?

According to Raj:

"We’re not necessarily the creators or conductors anymore. We’re orchestrators — we guide AI and provide taste, judgement, and sensibility."

In a world where AI can produce passable code or copy, what separates professionals is the soul they bring to the work. Human creativity, taste, and especially communication are more valuable than ever.

Why Communication Is Now a Superpower

Forget MBAs and Ivy League degrees — Raj believes the most underrated skill in the AI-first workplace is communication:

Driving consensus
Organising smart people
Persuading stakeholders
Telling stories that align teams

If AI is the tool, humans are still the glue.

Small Teams, Big Outcomes

So, can a 10-person startup really be the next unicorn? According to Raj: yes — and it’s already happening.

The explosion of accessible tools and AI copilots means the old barriers of entry (funding, hardware, engineering scale) are mostly gone. The result? Founders can do more with less, and brilliant ideas are no longer shelved due to lack of specialised skills.

Raj puts it simply:

"It’s not that there was a shortage of ideas. It’s that most people couldn’t execute on them. Now they can."

Authenticity, AI, and the Meta Moment

We also touched on why authenticity matters more than ever — especially in public product demos. Referencing Mark Zuckerberg’s glitchy but honest glasses presentation, Raj applauds how Meta leaned into being real rather than polished:

"People can tell when something feels authentic. Even if it doesn’t work."

That kind of authenticity builds trust, and trust builds brands.

Life at Mozilla and Coaching the Next Generation

So what’s it like being a founder turned product exec? For Raj, it’s a conscious shift from being the solo creator to becoming a player-coach:

Uplifting early-career product managers
Reframing hiring from "replace" to "reconfigure"
Teaching taste and execution at scale

He’s still building — just through others now.

Where to Follow Raj Singh

If you want to follow more of Raj’s thoughts, product experiments, or startup philosophies:

🎧 Listen to the Full Episode

Catch the full episode on your favourite platform and hear Raj’s unfiltered thoughts on:

Building AI startups before AI was cool
The myth of full-stack developers
Whether Stanford still matters in hiring
What makes a great product manager in 2025

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