Juicy Marbles: Combining Autonomy and Learning on the Path Toward Decentralization

This blog post is part of 80+ case studies of progressive organizations we created for the ZeroDX awards 2025. These organizations embody the principles of RenDanHeYi in their work structures:

• Zero Distance to customer: Decision what to build is based on insights from the marketplace

• Autonomy: Small teams with full decision-making autonomy enable speed in execution

• Shared Rewards: Everyone in the micro-enterprise participates in its financial success.

When Ana Gabršček joined in 2022 as the company’s first HR professional, there were only ten employees. With no established systems in place, she started developing HR processes from the ground up. As she recalled, the reference point was never the typical production company template but rather practices familiar from more agile industries.

By 2024, Juicy Marbles had grown to about sixty employees, and this rapid expansion made clear that some adjustments were necessary. In the early stage, decision-making was almost fully decentralized, with everyone taking responsibility informally. As the team passed twenty people, informal coordination became more difficult. Theleadership team chose to reorganize parts of the company to improve information flow.

Today, the production and supply chain areas are more structured, with clear reporting lines and designated roles. According to Ana, this was an intentional decision to ensure clarity and safety in daily operations. At the same time, functions such as HR, finance, legal, and IT have remained highly self-managed, with small teams operating independently and coordinating through regular planning.

One of the practices that reflects the company’s commitment to autonomy is the way hiring and onboarding are conducted. In the production area, new employees are mentored by their colleagues rather than by a single manager. After an initial trial period, the team votes on whether the person should stay. If the group agrees that there is not a good fit, the contract ends. This shared responsibility aligns with the idea of decentralizing authority and trusting teams to take ownership of important decisions.

Transparency has also been a priority. Management meeting notes are shared openly with employees. While thecompany decided not to make all financial data fully transparent—mainly because the distribution of costs acrossdifferent legal entities could create confusion—employees receive clear information about investments, costs, and decisions. For example, when Juicy Marbles went through a reorganization that involved letting some employees go, the leadership team explained the financial background and the purpose of the changes. According to Ana, people appreciated this level of openness and did not feel that information was being withheld.

In the framework of RenDanHeYi principles, autonomy is the area where Juicy Marbles has advanced the most.Employees have broad freedom to make decisions within their areas, and leaders are expected to coordinate rather than control. This reflects the principle that every person can be treated as a responsible contributor.

Decentralization, however, has been more challenging to maintain at scale. Ana described how the organization was fully decentralized when it was very small. But as the company grew, coordination became harder, and some centralization was necessary to regain stability. The current phase is seen as transitional. Over time, the plan is to evolve again toward a more distributed model, supported by clearer processes and better tools for sharing information.

Customer closeness is another area where Juicy Marbles is still developing. In the early years, the company relied mainly on its own intuition. Because the first product had strong market acceptance, this approach worked for a time. As the market has matured, however, the leadership team has recognized that internal ideas alone are no longer enough. About a year before the interview, Juicy Marbles began introducing structured consumer testing, including surveys and in-person product trials. The appointment of a new R&D team lead was a step intended to strengthen the link between customer insights and product development. Ana explained that this mindset shift is still in progress, and the company is working to place the customer at the center of decisions.

The balance between autonomy, decentralization, and customer focus is not always simple. Ana described how the company had to pause and consolidate before taking the next steps. She also noted that investors expect clear arguments and evidence to justify further changes. This has made the pace of transformation more gradual than if the organization had full freedom to move in any direction.

Overall, Juicy Marbles has developed a distinctive approach that combines a strong foundation of trust with the willingness to adapt as the company grows. Autonomy remains the principle most embedded in the culture, whiledecentralization and customer centricity are areas the team continues to strengthen. The experience so far shows thatbuilding a self-managing organization is not a one-time decision but an ongoing process of learning, adjustment, and renewal.