The large client/deal syndrome is common even with contractors besides small businesses and startups. If you change too much fundamentally when going all in on

The large client/deal syndrome is common even with contractors besides small businesses and startups. If you change too much fundamentally when going all in on a large client, you might miss out on the growing small/medium clients that are not as bound to your business that you may mutually benefit more from and control it more, or the ideals/mission you are going for. Large clients and deals can change the personality of a company or contractor. The large company or large client you choose has the ability to completely wreck everything so the smaller fish bends over backwards to do everything to keep the big deal. If you are lucky with timing and a good large client it can be massively good, and that is the attraction to that, but ultimately it can also fundamentally change your mission or ability to get and handle other large deal/clients. This is similar to the service/contracting industry where you have a handful of large clients or go product development where you have many small customers, the latter always seems to have more lasting power because the loss of a handful of customers in a sea of them is less than the handful or one large client that controls your destiny. The product company that is selling as a service or subscription doesn't need to constantly make sure the large client is happy, just most of their customers. Both types pull you in directions and change you but products with many smaller customers have more stable market support, however the latter takes more time to build.