Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

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Ack, how’d we get so big?

The problem with being success is that it tends to make whatever you do bigger. I never intended Stardock to get as large as it is today. I remember years ago saying that I would put a hard limit on Stardock’s growth at 50 people. That seems quaint now.

For those of you reading this who worry the American dream is going away, fear not. I started the company with nothing. No venture capital. I was in a dorm room and working multiple jobs to pay for school. You can still succeed with hard work and good judgment.

That said, I’m having a hard time knowing now where (or if) to stop further growth. The only reason we’re not bigger is that we’re so busy that we don’t have time to interview often (and I apologize for those of you who send us your resumes, we’re trying). Bigger teams help get more sophisticated products (software and games) to market. Impulse is growing at a far faster rate than we had projected. There’s even talk of building a second building just for Impulse in the next year.

It’s amazing how easy it is for these things to just start growing beyond what you had ever planned.

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Amazing. A second building for Impulse!

I think good judgment is the biggest betwen it and hard work. Luck also comes into as a factor.

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I'm so glad Impulse is growing! I very much prefer it over Steam.

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Frogboy

Join Date 03/2001

+2421

I'm not seeing luck.

I started out as an OS/2 developer. Cost me 10 years.

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actually, that's a great question... how big is too big?

it seems that history is filled to the brim with companies, heck - civilizations, that simply got too big too quick and just collapsed from it.

and in fact, it seems like this entire economic downturn is the fallout of peeps building the house of cards heedlessly higher... despite the fact they're building with... playing cards.

i know the common adage is "grow or die" but i wonder if it's possible and perhaps even DESIRABLE to simply reach a point that is not a derogatory "STASIS"... but.... "EQUILIBRIUM".

a word in the zeitgeist these days is "SUSTAINABILITY" and in regards to all of man's endeavors, it seems like we push against every boundary - including resources. we are indeed... "a virus"... : )

but in regards to stardock, and running a business, how do you avoid that trap? how do you grow so that inevitable setbacks don't result in catastrophe?

jin

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Congratulations on your success! Here's hoping you find the time to manage it well.

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Just don't go public. I pity any body in a company that has to answer to short-sighted investors who would take a quarter's profit at triple digits if the company did something self-destructive over a company that's responsible through better and worse.

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i know the common adage is "grow or die" but i wonder if it's possible and perhaps even DESIRABLE to simply reach a point that is not a derogatory "STASIS"... but.... "EQUILIBRIUM".

Society has to grow, the problem is that the average person tends to only grow parts of themselves and that is how they fail. Kinda like making a building taller without adding more support at the base or a person getting older but still using their childhood clothing (or trying anyways). Some companies make profits their prioritiy and this makes the idea of how to make more profits their priority and therefor they ignore the rest of the company which is part of what keeps it up, eventually it collapses onto itself because, as you said, there is no equilibrium.

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Glad all is well. But what if you had to start it all over today with the "business friendly" folks we have in Washington today?

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Been a long while since I've commented, but I'm glad to see Stardock doing so well. I hope other companies will take note of your success and try to follow your example.

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Ack, how&rsquo;d we get so big?

Ack, how’d we get so big?

Ack, how’d we get so big?