Quoted from toyotaboy:Since I made a steve jobs comparison (and someone else posted the perfect clip from the movie), the more I think about it nearly every company starts small (which doesn't seem to be the path of deeproot).
Steve jobs didn't go "Hey I'm going to change computers and jump right to a macintosh!". Nope, him and wozniak built homebrew computers, then made the apple I, then got funding to build production apple II's.
Elon musk didn't come out of the gate "I'm going to build a giant car factory and make my own chassis and my own batteries". Nope, he borrowed the chassis and body from a lotus, bought off the shelf batteries, and made a small run of expensive $100k electric roadsters (which all sold).
Even Gary Stern did not go full blown 100k sq foot factory and start making pinballs out of the gate. Between Stern electronics and Data east pinball, he started a company called Pinstar, made conversion playfield kits for Bally Pinballs.
Not saying it can't be done.. I mean JJP managed to survive (but they almost didn't and had to get bailed out).
Jobs didn't have the macintosh on the mind when they started apple. The apple I was to 'change computers' and did... on the back of woz. At virtually every step of the way Jobs reached bigger than they actually were or could be. It was one of his ways of pushing people to perform.
Elon didn't start out small... Tesla built the roadster based on the elise because they wanted to develop their EV platform first and not have to reinvent EVERYTHING at the start. (avoiding millions of hours of R&D to recreate what was non-essential to the goal). It was a way of getting to market and focusing their efforts... not 'we want smart growth...' or anything. It was an engineering solution. Tesla raised nearly $100 million in their first 5 years to fund the company. That's not starting small
But of all the examples... only Tesla was one started in the big VC era where tens of millions are given to people for just ideas and so many companies try to be disruptors right off the bat. These aren't organic growth, be profitable early, business plans. They go big and try to grow fast at the expense of the bottom line... with either the promise of a buyout, or cross-over with high gains afterwards.
The world was different in the 70s.. and even 80s. You had to have a business model that showed sustainability. That went out the door for many segments post dot-com and in the modern era.