This is why almost all businesses should be small, and all should start small. The article mentions an example of a business that seemed to be succeeding small

This is why almost all businesses should be small, and all should start small. The article mentions an example of a business that seemed to be succeeding small, but this was perceived as failure. That's rather surprising to me, but in some sense it's at least heartening because had the owners been less drunk on kool-aid, they might have continued and had an actually successful business. Too often it's a different situation: it's taken as given that the business cannot succeed on a small scale, and exponential growth isn't just an "exit strategy", it's the only means of survival. In my view the perverse mindset lamented in this article is something that needs to be explicitly counteracted. We need laws and policies that deliberately punish businesses (and individuals) for seeking "exponential growth" rather than moderate, sustainable success.