Morgan Woodson

A member of the Philip Greenspun's Homepage community since April 25, 2001

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April 25, 2001, on ArsDigita: From Start-Up to Bust-Up:
I've always wondered, and hearing this saga I wonder more, about the "swing for the fences" versus bootstrap tradeoff. If you build a company and enjoy what you're doing enough to do it for twenty years, isn't slow growth a reasonable option? You do have to grow a bit to accumulate some capital to survive the lean years (or a change in the business environment requiring re-direction of effort and capital expenditure), but maybe not that much. I suspect that "swing for the fences," "get big or go home" mentality comes from those who don't really enjoy (or maybe even understand) the real business their company deals in but just want to build empires, then move on after a while to build another (see Jim Clark). After hearing about a furniture-making co-op where the members buy an (equal) share & pay dues for upkeep, equipment purchase, etc. but keep the profit themselves, I began to think of a software co-op. Not a body shop owned by the bodies (though that's not a bad idea) doi...