I Don’t Think You Need to Build a Billion-Dollar Company

For a long time, the startup scoreboard looked obvious.

Build the biggest company. Raise the most money. Have the biggest exit.

I still think building something enormous can be a brilliant goal. I just don’t think it has to be everyone’s goal.

There are businesses that never become billion-dollar companies and still change the lives of everyone involved. They give people control over their time. They create good work. They let founders take care of their families. They leave room to experiment.

That kind of freedom is easy to underrate because it is harder to announce.

The useful question is probably not “How big can this get?”

It is “What do I want this to make possible?”

I’m still figuring out my answer.