I think the answer lies in where the project is in its customer-adoption lifecycle. - Is it a new idea with tons of growth potential, but unproven? - Do you h

I think the answer lies in where the project is in its customer-adoption lifecycle. - Is it a new idea with tons of growth potential, but unproven? - Do you have early adopters, but still trying to find the bigger markets? - Is it something that is currently growing very fast? - Is it something that once grew fast, but now is more stable? Still makes a significant amount of money through new accounts? - Is it something that makes most of it's money through maintenance and not new accounts? - Is it something that has a large, but shrinking code-base? All projects go through life-cycles like this. At the beginning it makes sense to invest in more growth -- at the end it makes sense to lower costs (and outsource). Each part of the lifecycle needs a different skillset and has different kinds of goals. If there's one part of the cycle you prefer, the trick is to move projects once the one you are on moves out of that part. Also, don't join teams that are past the part you want to do.