We help product and engineering teams move faster.
And we make sure the gains stick.
33 Teams is a boutique software consultancy led by former C-suite executives from Pivotal, Adobe, and VMware. We work directly with VPs, CTOs and CPOs at growth-stage companies who need to accelerate product velocity — not add overhead.
We help growth-stage teams ship the things that matter — and build the habits to keep doing it.
Velocity acceleration
We embed senior practitioners — product managers, designers, and engineers — alongside your team. Using Lean, Extreme Programming, and User-Centered Design — and AI-assisted coding tools where they accelerate delivery — we find and fix the constraints slowing you down. You ship more, and your team learns the practices that sustain that pace after we leave.
Legacy modernization
The systems that got you to Series B become the anchor that holds you back at Series C. We modernize core applications incrementally — no big-bang rewrites, no months offline, no betting the business on a single risky migration. Measurable progress from week one.
Product strategy + discovery
When the roadmap is contested or priorities aren't landing, we bring C-suite-level perspective to the conversation. Our founders have lived the decisions you're facing. We help you make the hard calls, align stakeholders, and point the team at the right problems — before any code is written.
Proven practices, updated for today's reality.
Our practice is built on Lean, Extreme Programming, and User-Centered Design — the disciplines that defined a generation of great software teams. We've refined them over decades of real engagements. And we use AI deliberately as an accelerant in the right places — not as a selling point.
Every discipline has a voice throughout the process. No handoffs. No waterfall in disguise.
Short cycles, rapid feedback, no months-long build-to-reveal. You see real progress, fast.
Skills transfer as we go. When the engagement ends, your team is stronger — not dependent on us.
Our founders stay actively involved. What's happening on the ground connects directly to what matters at the leadership level.
Real engagements. Real results.
M&A Due Diligence
Bridge Trust engaged 33 Teams to conduct pre-acquisition due diligence on their own codebase — giving the acquiring team an honest, expert assessment of technical complexity, maintainability, and integration risk before the deal closed.
E-Commerce at Scale
Helped one of the world's most recognized consumer brands ship features faster and unlock critical engineering process improvements across a complex, globally distributed team.
Fintech Transformation
Advised Marqeta's CTO and senior leadership on technology, teams, and delivery — reducing burnout and raising the bar on engineering quality across the board.
AI Product Acceleration
Brought senior Product and Engineering expertise to Overstory's AI image analysis technology and turned it into a production-ready product that accelerated delivery of business value to paying customers.
Mobile App Launch in 60 Days
Led product strategy and end-to-end development of a built-from-scratch iOS application in just 60 days for Shimmy, a nonprofit startup on a mission to get America moving.
Platform Modernization
Helped Productable migrate off a no-code foundation, modernize their technology infrastructure, and ship meaningful new functionality to customers — without slowing down delivery.
"Rather than show up with some one-size-fits-all transformation handbook, 33 Teams took the time to understand our organization and culture, and proposed the specific changes that would have the biggest impact on our agility and business. They brought in experts to work closely with our teams to teach them skills to get them to the next level, while also delivering key technology that got into production."
We've led product and engineering at scale — and choose to stay close to the work.
Drew led product management, design, engineering, and data science teams through his tenure as a senior executive at Pivotal Labs and VMware. A recognized expert in Lean, Extreme Programming, and User-Centered Design, he's taken products to market in every category — from consumer mobile to mission-critical enterprise systems for global financial institutions. Previously Director of Product Management at Adobe and founder of Road 3, a technology strategy consultancy.
Melissa brings decades of executive leadership across technology and healthcare — as Chief Marketing Officer at Adobe, CEO of a venture-backed healthcare startup, and a member of the executive team at Pivotal Labs through a period of global expansion. She's founded companies, served on boards, and advised startups at every stage. Most recently, she was a Fellow at Stanford's Distinguished Careers Institute.
"We started 33 Teams because we kept seeing the same problem: companies with capable teams and real opportunities, moving slower than they should — and not knowing why. We knew how to fix it. So we built the firm we wished had existed when we were sitting on your side of the table."
Elisabeth is a software industry veteran with deep expertise in engineering quality, Agile practices, and building teams that ship great products sustainably. She has led engineering organizations at scale, founded companies, and held executive roles at publicly-traded technology firms. Author of Explore It! and a respected voice on what it actually takes to move fast without breaking things.
Rich advises companies on business strategy, growth, and operational improvement. He brings a rare combination of engineering depth and business acumen — with a BS in Electrical Engineering from Cornell and an MBA from Chicago Booth — and has worked with Microsoft, Cisco, Pivotal Labs, Siemens, and others navigating complex technology and organizational challenges.
Alan has 25+ years of experience leading the delivery of consumer and enterprise software products reaching hundreds of millions of users worldwide. He ran his own consulting firm, building solutions for Adobe, Microsoft, HP, AT&T, Sprint, and several startups. Previously, he was head of Disney's mobile engineering unit, where he transformed siloed teams into a highly-efficient collaborative organization — dramatically reducing defects and improving time-to-market.
Let's figure out together if we're the right fit.
We'll tell you in the first conversation whether we can genuinely help — and if we're not the right match, we'll tell you that too. No pitch, no pressure.