Most people have a specific sweet spot when it comes to factors such as the size of the company they work at, the type of work they engage in, the level of support infrastructure they need/want (or don’t) and many other aspects of their work life.
It is fairly rare to find individuals who can go from being an early founder who writes code to the CEO of a thousand people company (arguably the legends of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg are these exceptions).
Alas a lot of us chase the ideal of being the one who can successfully navigate all the waters from tiny startup to large corporation. And in the process either hit our own version of the Peter principle or become unhappy as we end up doing things we don’t like.
Know what your sweet spot is and act accordingly.
I, for one, know that I love starting things. Small companies where chaos (and opportunity) reigns, getting stuff from zero to one, being the jack of all trades. Once those conditions are not there anymore — as the company has grown, created structure and people get more and more specialized, I get antsy and have to leave.
What is your sweet spot? And are you in the right place to be blissfully happy doing the thing you love doing (and are insanely good at)?