Big Company, Small Company

Google has done a better job of any outfit I know at retaining a small company feeling despite massive growth in its employee ranks. The shared information, distributed decision-making, and entrepreneurial encouragement all give Googlers a stronger start-up sense than has ever been possible while juggling 16,000+ employees. Just how many people is that? Click here to get a staggering sense thanks to Google Blogoscoped.

Yet, despite Google's efforts, it is nearly futile to replicate the nimbleness and commitment to execution that one finds in a startup where the three coders all live and work in the same apartment. Case in point, this email exchange lifted from the blog of my portfolio company, Auctomatic.com:

On Feb 7, 2008, at 2:12 AM, Vincent wrote:

Hi,

I just found your site. It looks nice but I have a question: do you support ebay NL (Netherlands) ?
Regards,

Vincent

Yes, that is 2:12 AM Pacific Time. Most of us are asleep, but the Auctomatic boys have just fired up another bowl of ramen and are on top of things:

On Feb 7, 2008, at 2:23 AM, Harjeet Taggar wrote:

Hi Vincent,

Thanks for your email. We did not support eBay Netherlands ten minutes ago, but we’ve worked on it since your email, and support is now available—please test it out, and let us know how you’re finding Auctomatic.

We’re adding new features all the time, so please do feel free to drop me an email with any feedback you have.

Thanks,

Harjeet

Come on! At 2:23 AM, within eleven minutes of the original request these guys added international site support and got back to the user!

I love startups and I love Auctomatic.

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