How to Utilise Delivery Teams to Drive Scalable Growth

The lesson for startups is simple, the fastest path to a scalable product often starts inside your delivery team.

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This is the story of how a delivery team turned an internal tool into a product that increased adoption, reduced operational costs and empowered users to build their own experiences. It also shows how delivery teams can drive scalable growth when they are given space to experiment and build on what they already know.

Whether you are assessing how to scale beyond bespoke delivery or exploring how internal tools can evolve into repeatable value, the path to delivery teams scalable growth often begins within your own walls.

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When Delivery Success Masks Product Problems

The delivery team I led generated up to sixty percent of annual revenue, with individual deals exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. On the surface, our success implied that this was a sustainable business model. But that success concealed deeper issues with the product behind the service.

The internal tooling we used to build AR experiences had been developed over several years. It was intended to simplify creation, but in practice it still required onboarding and workarounds. Even our own team, made up of skilled artists, animators and technical specialists, spent twenty to thirty percent of their time overcoming limitations in the system. Clients wanted personalised, interactive content. We wanted to deliver it. But the gap between what was possible and what was practical slowed everyone down.

Despite being described as a no code platform, it was far from intuitive. While it enabled powerful outputs, it introduced friction that made it difficult for new users to get started and for experienced users to innovate.

We needed a better way to create complex, interactive experiences without introducing more layers of difficulty.

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Building Tools That Build Momentum

When two artists left, I made a different choice. Instead of replacing them like for like, we brought in a developer with creative instincts who could also build tools. We protected thirty percent of their time for internal tool development, creating a dual track that let us improve systems without missing delivery commitments.

That simple change created space to innovate and shifted our mindset from working around problems to designing better foundations for both internal teams and future users. By following four steps, we started to think like a product team.

1. We adopted agile practices

We adopted an agile approach. In practice this meant:

• Biweekly releases, prioritised through a simple spreadsheet backlog.

• Team testing and feedback loops asking “What worked?” and “What is missing?”

I became the de facto product owner, and the rest of the team acted as our stakeholders. We maintained a simple backlog in a spreadsheet to prioritise features and track progress. Each update was tested by the team, who shared feedback on what worked, what did not, and what they needed next. That rhythm of iteration helped us refine the tool while continuing to deliver for clients.

2. We made a technical pivot

We rebuilt on top of JavaScript. In practice this meant:

• Replacing Java’s rigid logic gate system to gain flexibility and speed.

• Reducing AR build times while enabling greater interactivity and complexity.

By layering our solution on JavaScript, we gained flexibility and power without requiring everyone to become a coder overnight. The improvements allowed us to create more advanced AR experiences while reducing time and effort. Build times dropped, performance improved, and the team could finally focus on creativity over workarounds.

3. We built in user feedback

We prioritised real input over internal assumptions. In practice this meant:

• Showcasing early prototypes to clients to confirm alignment with their goals.

• Running a closed beta so users could test the tool in their own workflows.

We stayed focused on delivering a tool that truly met customer needs. To do that, we showcased early prototypes to clients, validating that the outcomes aligned with their goals. Later, we launched a closed beta, inviting selected customers to test the tool in their own workflows. The real world insights we gained shaped our roadmap and ensured the product was both powerful and easy to use.

4. We solved for power users first and worked backwards

We flipped our design priorities. In practice this meant:

• Building for power users first with scripting, modularity and custom animation features.

• Simplifying for novices by hiding advanced options in the interface.

The legacy platform supported novices but limited advanced creators. We built for power users first, then simplified the interface for novices by hiding advanced options. This created a single scalable solution that served all users while reducing support overhead.

By addressing both user needs and technical limits, we positioned the new tool as the natural replacement for the legacy platform, delivering scalability for users while reducing operational costs.

What This Meant in Practice

The work we did in each of these four areas built more than a better tool. It created a new way of working. Our delivery team had become a testbed for innovation — a space where user insight, technical creativity and business goals finally met.

The difference showed up fast in the numbers, in user feedback and in the way the organisation began to think about scale.

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The Outcome: Delivery Teams Can Unlock Scalable Growth

The results spoke for themselves. What began as an internal improvement effort became a catalyst for scalable growth. By combining small, focused iterations with a shift in mindset, the delivery team moved from project execution to product creation, and the impact was tangible.

Efficiency

• Complex AR experiences that once took a week were built in days

• Performance improved by around 15 percent on mid-range mobile devices

User Empowerment

• A 25 percent increase in user-generated content followed the tool’s rollout

• Clients began creating high-quality experiences without needing hands-on support

Strategic Fit

• The new tool replaced the legacy platform entirely

• Operational costs dropped thanks to reduced support and faster production

• The company gained a credible path away from delivery dependency toward scalable product growth

Taken together, these outcomes proved that delivery teams can do more than execute. When given space to build and iterate, they can drive product-led growth from the inside out. This experience redefined how I thought about delivery, and it shaped the lessons that followed.

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Lessons Learned

Startups often separate delivery and product too early, assuming one is about execution and the other about innovation. This experience proved that those worlds can and should overlap. Delivery insight is product insight.

The following principles made the difference:

• Start with your own pain points. We were our own toughest critics and most committed testers.

• Protect time for innovation. Even one person can drive major change if given the space to focus.

• Involve users early. Real feedback trumps assumptions every time.

• Design for the edges. Power users expose limits. Novices reveal usability flaws.

• Adoption matters more than metrics. People choosing to use a tool speaks louder than usage stats.

For startups trying to move from bespoke delivery to scalable product value, the transition does not require a blank slate. The best place to start is with the tools you already rely on and the problems you know best.

If you are leading a startup and want to explore how to turn delivery insight into scalable product value, let’s talk. I help founders and product leaders design and run product alignment sessions that transform internal tools into growth engines. Reach out at info@crwburgess.com to start turning delivery into leverage.