Why Your Business Shouldn’t Scale

In the deep heart of the City of London, a few steps from the Bank of England, there is a small coffee shop. It is so small that it occupies just the narthex of St Mary Woolnoth church. Like Roman encampments, large food chains surround this tiny outpost. Like the village of Asterix and Obelix, it proudly refuses to be conquered.

I have my macchiato there every day, and I am not the only one. The shop survives not because of the donations received from the church but because of the endless stream of clients that pick this place for their daily caffeine shot.

It is so popular that I often have to queue. I use this opportunity to observe the other customers and sometimes exchange a few words. Besides the occasional tourists, they (we) all work in the financial or legal sectors. They (we) believe in the capitalistic model, in the efficient use of resources and in a pie that keeps getting bigger so that everybody can get a bigger slice. They (we) invest our money and the money of our clients in enterprises that can scale, replicating their success across the global market.

The nearest cost-efficient and scalable Starbucks is probably 15 meters away from the church. They (we) don’t go there to get a coffee. They (we), instead, prefer the tiny shop owned and operated by the same person, with no IPO in sight and no marketing office.