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Om Malik is a San Francisco based writer, photographer and investor. Read More
As an organization grows in scale, the idiosyncrasy and distinctiveness that was originally informed by the taste of the founders moves toward the mean.
Over time, things get more average.
That’s because each new customer, each new supplier and each new employee wants or needs something a little more normal, at least sometimes. The drift to normal can only be countered by persistent effort, usually at the cost of some element of short-term scale.
Seth Godin made that observation over on his blog. And as an exhibit, here is a magazine review from a long time ago about Google, when it launched.

Give it 25 years, and I suppose everything will become “normal.”
March 26, 2024.
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Sorry, where is the magazine review?