Most people assume that the challenges that go along with growing a large business are greater than those of growing a smaller one. That is not true. Going from a five-person organization to a sixty-person organization was just as challenging as going from a sixty-person organization to a seven-hundred-person organization—and from a seven-hundred-person organization to a 1,500-person one. Looking back, I can’t say that the challenges were easier or harder at any of the various phases we went through. They were just different. For example, when I had no one to manage, I had the challenge of having to do almost everything myself. When I learned and earned enough to pay others, I had the challenge of managing them. Similarly, the challenges of wrestling with market and economic swings were constantly changing. I didn’t think about it then, but it’s obvious to me now that while one gets better at things over time, it doesn’t become any easier if one is also progressing to higher levels—the Olympic athlete finds his sport to be every bit as challenging as the novice does.
— Principles: Life and Work (Ray Dalio), Loc. 1153-60