Transistor FM

Transistor is built by a small team that stays close to day-to-day product decisions through regular, lightweight rituals. They run weekly team meetings to align on priorities, unblock work, and keep everyone moving in the same direction without adding heavy process.

They prefer an incremental, iterative approach to shipping. Rather than holding features back for a “big reveal,” they roll improvements out in stages, rebuild core systems behind the scenes, and aim for changes that feel seamless to customers (ideally to the point that nobody notices the underlying complexity that changed).

Customer feedback is a first-class input to product decisions. Support patterns and recurring questions are treated as signals: when the same friction shows up repeatedly, the team uses that evidence to justify changes, refine scope, and improve the experience for a broader set of users.

They invest in enabling customers through clear explanations and documentation. As they introduce new capabilities (like templating and customization), they focus on educating users so the product remains approachable even as it becomes more powerful.

Transistor hires cautiously because team size is part of the strategy. In the team’s own words, they were initially hesitant to hire full-time, and they still frame growth as deliberate rather than automatic—optimizing for a small group that can do meaningful work together.

They also demonstrate flexibility in how someone joins the team. For example, they describe a path where a contributor starts in a part-time capacity and later transitions into a full-time role, reflecting a pragmatic “try working together” approach before making long-term commitments.

Hiring is treated as an extension of product needs, not a perpetual pipeline. When new work creates a clear gap, such as the desire to expand design and template capabilities, they consider bringing in specialized talent to add leverage while keeping the core team focused.

Overall, their hiring philosophy emphasizes fit for a small, collaborative environment: people who can integrate quickly, contribute across boundaries, and help the team keep shipping while staying close to customers.