I don't think it's possible to build a business that grows to 1000 times its original size (I mean 1 dental practice to 1000, 1 coffee shop to 1000, 1 taxi to 1000 etc)
I know it is possible but it's not really feasible, well not for anyone who is in any way interested in the quality or reputation they would like to have.
In 2008 when I entered the practice in West Bridgford it turned over around £250,000 a year. The 'group' this year will turn over in excess of £2.5million so that's 10 times the growth in 8 years or so but even that is verging on unmanageable.
The problem is that you can't control the people in the organisation the way you can when it's tiny and because of that you lose the quality. You have to deal with the lowest common denominator in order to maintain a basic level of quality and service and therefore the whole thing dumbs down. You can probably apply the x 1000 to apps, software, computer companies and then a group of exceptional cases which are highlighted in the media but really are pretty unrealistic to achieve. Every little boy wants to be Lionel Messi or Ronaldo and everybody who builds a computer in their garage wants to be Apple but in reality the circumstances in which people find themselves able to create these situations are so rare that the frustration of not getting there can kill you.
The deep satisfaction of producing the thing that you want and positively affecting the people you touch must be enough, rather than the insatiable and un-completable urge to build x 1000.
Blog Post Number: 1032