This is the distinction between scalable and non-scalable. I first read of it in one of Nassim Taleb's books (where he advises people to pick a non-scalable car

This is the distinction between scalable and non-scalable. I first read of it in one of Nassim Taleb's books (where he advises people to pick a non-scalable career, since the outcomes are more certain and the risks lower) but I'm sure it's been written about many other times. Ben Casnocha talks about it a bit [0]. Startups aim to be scalable. But you should note that you don't have to start out scalable. Doing so might be seen as a premature optimization. You could hand-service your first dozen customers, and worry about scaling only when you start counting your customers in hundreds rather than tens. [0] http://casnocha.com/2009/03/scalable-vs-non-scalable-careers.html http://casnocha.com/2009/03/scalable-vs-non-scalable-careers...