This doesn't apply completely, IMO, to startups with early enterprise deals. If you negotiate those in ways which are "too un-rapacious", you can be starved for capital, be ignored by the customer (because it's insignificant as an expense...), and turn into a consultancy by necessity.
It's not exactly being power-mad, but definitely putting the interests of your company (which, at the time, might just be you!) first in negotiations. Not being a dick, but being assertive, and having a decent BATNA in negotiations (i.e. being willing to walk away).
I'd totally agree with what pg said here for consumer or low-marginal-cost products. Absolutely disagree for professional services. Disagree moderately for the somewhat-marginal-cost world of enterprise deals (or hardware).
I think there's something more to this which has to do with marginal cost, not just growth curve.
Fwiw I was doing an enterprisish biz before and am now doing consumer. Maybe matching personality types with these is worth doing.
Also I was stressing about the enterprise side of the biz when I sent this email. The enterprise biz has no chance of growing hyperlinearly because the market is too small and the customers are very hard to reach. (TV stations)
My personal sweet spot is well-resourced people with hard problems (but not unique-to-them, or self-created problems), either individuals or large organizations. "Professionals" might be better than Enterprise, since they purchase products themselves rather than through purchasing departments, at least for initial buyers as a startup.
My dream business would be the software/service equivalent of Snap-On Tools. Not Craftsman (home/high-end value), shitty cheap shit from the dollar store, free stuff included with furniture, and also not NASA custom $30k screwdrivers.
Sounds like github/gitlab would be a close to what you are describing. Hosted quickbooks. Hosted turbotax for accountants. Payment processing like square for small businesses.
None of those are really hard tech problems, though. They can be hard at scale (like FB has hard infrastructure problems at scale), but they are more about domain expertise, initial sales, and having the right mvp and a path to small number of initial sales, IMO.
It's not exactly being power-mad, but definitely putting the interests of your company (which, at the time, might just be you!) first in negotiations. Not being a dick, but being assertive, and having a decent BATNA in negotiations (i.e. being willing to walk away).
I'd totally agree with what pg said here for consumer or low-marginal-cost products. Absolutely disagree for professional services. Disagree moderately for the somewhat-marginal-cost world of enterprise deals (or hardware).
I think there's something more to this which has to do with marginal cost, not just growth curve.