PlentyOfFish was the biggest example I can think of, but companies like that are very rare. It's also strange. If you have a successful company, why wouldn't you try to grow it and hire employees? Maybe if you're more interested in keeping things simple than in making more money.
>Maybe if you're more interested in keeping things simple than in making more money.
Yup, that's exactly my own motivation. I've set mine up to run fairly automatically. Obviously it needs oversight and growth. It just doesn't need them right away.
So if I want to take a couple weeks off, I can. And I don't have to hold that many details in my head/when working I can hold more longer run details in my head.
I value that more than earning a very large amount of money.
This is a good article laying out hte mindset behind this. The four freedoms are the main consideration:
Sure, that's valid reasoning. If your goal is optimizing your personal happiness, you don't need that much money. The extra stress will easily compensate for the extra money and you'll be worse off.
But a word of warning, make sure it's not because you're afraid of taking things to the next level. Adding employees (rising costs) and moving into more of a managerial role is something many engineers are afraid of on some level. Additionally, all humans are afriad of change to some degree. Make sure you really understand what motivates you. </armchair psychologist>
