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There are nice companies like that even at 100-something employee size. The company being owner-run is paramount, as is the character of the owners (caring more about the product and the craft than about maximizing profit).


> (caring more about the product and the craft than about maximizing profit).

Actually caring about profit is good too. Problems start when the people in charge care about advancement, prestige, status, resume building, or CYA.


The owners should certainly care about being profitable, but increasing profit shouldn’t be the primary criterion for career advancement and product design. In a small company, the hierarchy is also flat enough that there isn’t much space for the people in charge for advancement/prestige/status within the company, in particular not for the owners themselves. In the end, this is also about hiring people with the right attitudes, which again falls to the owners.




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