Working in very small deal teams

Something I rarely see discussed here is what it’s like to work in very small deal teams.

Many people imagine PE or venture roles like banking: structured teams, layers of analysts and associates, and some distance from partners.

But that’s not always the case.

In some firms the team is extremely small. At times I was literally the only analyst in the room.

That changes the dynamic quite a lot.

You’re not sitting in an analyst bullpen with other juniors.
You’re sitting in the same office with the partners every day.

You hear the calls.
You see the reactions.
You see how decisions actually get made.

And they see how you think, every day.

There’s no real buffer.

Sometimes this also translates into very direct working setups.

In one case I was the only analyst and my desk was positioned so the partner could easily see my screen. On long days that basically meant from around 8/9 in the morning until 11 at night in the same room. Only then I had some time to work by myself.

In another place there were two analysts (myself included) and my screen faced the corridor, so people walking by could see what I was working on throughout the day.

These may sound like small details, but they change the psychological dynamic of the job quite a bit.

When you share the same space with partners every day, professional masks fall faster. Communication becomes more direct. Tension is harder to hide. But learning also happens much faster.

Another challenge is decompression.

In larger teams you usually have some psychological space: you can vent with other analysts, step away more easily, or blend into the background for a moment.

In very small teams that space often doesn’t exist. Everything happens in the same room, and the environment is much more exposed.

Because of that, burnout can happen faster if you don’t learn how to manage your own boundaries.

A few things that helped me:

1. Learn to take your own space
When you work with the same people all day — sometimes even lunch together — it’s easy to feel constantly “on”. Stepping away for short breaks helps reset.

2. Silence is often better than friction
When you're exhausted or frustrated, adding tension to the room rarely helps. Sometimes the most professional move is simply staying quiet and cooling off.

3. Know when to leave the room
In small teams, presence isn’t always rewarded. Stepping out at the right moment can be better than staying and building pressure.

4. Follow management, but don’t get crushed
Hierarchy is clear, but professionalism also means maintaining boundaries and not allowing yourself to be treated like a pawn at every moment.

5. Protect the quality of your work
If you’re the most operational person in the room, there’s often no one else who will raise the quality for you. Being the only analyst also gives you some leverage in negotiating operational priorities. It’s not easy, but sometimes it’s necessary. If the work deteriorates because you’re overloaded or exhausted, the consequences affect the whole team. In a way, that creates a hedge — but also more responsibility to manage your capacity and the quality of what you deliver.

Working in very small deal teams can be intense, but also extremely formative. You see things early that people in larger organizations might only see years later.

I'd like to know how others here handled similar dynamics in small teams.
Happy to discuss both relational and operational approaches.