Marc Andreessen

If you’re a venture firm, you’re getting strips of your portfolio pulled away from you every year. You’re out of business. [...] This makes startups completely implausible. (source)

In my experience, digital services don't necessarily deteriorate as they scale; rather, they often improve. Scaling brings challenges, but also opportunities for optimization and enhancement. Properly managed, scale can drive innovation and efficiency, making services more robust and user-friendly.

As companies scale, there's a real risk of innovation slowing down and bureaucracy creeping in. What often begins as a nimble, disruptive force can become unwieldy, losing the agility that defined its early success. This doesn't have to be the case, but it requires intentional effort to maintain the culture and ethos that drive innovation.