[KnobbleMcKnees]

I agree and this is a practical method that I've seen work well in several companies I've worked for. However I think there's a bigger problem that contributes to the loss of "spark" that the author strangely didn't address at all.

The fruits of labor grow ever higher. By which I mean: In the early days of a startup the problem space is ripe and plentiful, the impact you can have is outsized, and the pool of people with which to share it is the smallest it will ever be.

As a company grows, all three of these factors are subject to strain. The problem space becomes sparser, outsized impacts are recognised further up the ever-growing hierarchy, and the pool of people with which you're sharing your impact becomes larger and recognition becomes shorter lived and more diffuse.

[alain94040]

There is also a dynamic aspect to that: the original team who started the startup has battle scars, they used to take risk, but now they have a natural incentive to be more conservative, preserve the way things were done.

Rands has a great article on that topic well worth reading: https://randsinrepose.com/archives/stables-and-volatiles/

It matches my experience with startups experiencing challenges as they grow.