When I read Seth’s Godin’s post - it was eerily on target to my experience so far. I’ve been hammering the streets these past few days hanging out with business contacts who were close friends of mine, and apparently Seth’s thinking is on the minds of a lot of entreprenuers out there right now. As I mentioned to a friend of mine - If I visited a startup and their office wasn’t small and cosy, and there were loads of employees, I’d be pretty worried.
I visited my friend John’s company, and their whole shtick (they were in the product manufacturing business) was to stay small. Everyone in the office was a partner working their own way. And I respect that. There is absolutely no reason nowadays, especially with the Internet, to grow too big when the need isn’t there. There isn’t an advantage to be gained anymore with outsourcing and information at your fingertips.
I do believe this doesn’t apply in every case of course (in the consulting line for instance when your revenue is tied to manhours - just can’t run away from that), but if possible, stay small. That’s what I’m gonna do.
