There are four types of entrepreneurs:

1. People who try, give up, and get a job

2. People who get overwhelmed or comfortable, and stop growing (lifestyle)

3. People who grow steadily, year after year (compounders)

4. People who blitzscale (venture) ...

Each is specific to personality....

Some entrepreneurs feel an insatiable need to grow.

Others get to a certain point and stop, due to lifestyle or personality.

So, once you get to a point of comfort, why keep growing?...

So many people think growth = greed.

The reality:

If you don't grow your revenue, you can provide ZERO upside to your employees.

No growth = no raises. No promotions. No new roles. No new interesting people to work with. No new challenges.

The best people will leave...

In this way, a company becomes a beast you need to feed:

More employees = more need for opportunity.

More people depending on you for upside, meaning, and career progression.

More need to try new things and grow....

There are many flavours of this.

I know people who run bootstrapped companies that have one bespoke product and a relatively small team, even after 20 years.

I also know people with 5,000 employees and 20+ businesses after 20 years....

In both cases, one thing has been key to success:

Steady growth.

Obviously at different rates, but no matter what, both businesses need to keep growing enough that everyone can get a raise, promotion, do more interesting work, etc...

I can think of very few businesses that don't grow and can continue to employ the best people, keep them happy and engaged, and stay in business longterm.