It sounds like you might not be familiar with the author Jason referred to right before his critique of the current focus on size: Ricardo Semler.
In his books he develops a very humanistic look at the role of businesses in our lives. As entrepreneurs, employees, and as customers. I won't be able to do the ideas justice here, but I will try:
A business obsessed with revenue and growth is like a person obsessed with how many breaths they have taken, or how much food is in their pantry -- these are means to an end, not ends in themselves. Food is required for life but it's not the purpose of living. Businesses as conceived by Semler and Fried aren't designed to maximize revenue so much as make the world a better place (#include your essay about google being almost a nonprofit).
It may be that stories of plumbers, barbers, and cafes wouldn't be interesting to you. I like to hear about people living enjoyable lives, delighting their customers, and making their corner of the universe a better place. It's a lot more psychically healthy than reading about people trying to gain the most while providing the least (the tech crunch articles Jason refers to)
So many people seem obsessed with getting a large quantity of money, and only then trying their hand at building a fulfilling life. I have always thought of Semler as running things in reverse: how do we design a seven day weekend that is cash positive?
(Semler's book, The Seven Day Weekend, is highly recommended to anyone who wants to hear more)
I understand quite well the idea of company that isn't focused simply on revenue growth. I've been running one for the past 7 years. And I'm interested in reading about others. But articles of that type are case studies, not news, which is why I explicitly distinguished between them.
first "What makes a company newsworthy (unless it's as a case study) is its size, or potential size."
then "But articles of that type are case studies, not news"
first "Do you really want to read articles about all of them? I don't."
then "I've been running one for the past 7 years. And I'm interested in reading about others."
I think what you want is for Jason to have said "I wish the technical community were focused on case studies of awesome companies rather than news stories about funding and growth." Which I think he would agree with, and would remove your points.
(Not that case study vs news is a real dichotomy -- what's stopping someone from calling news about a round of funding a "case study about getting funding"? Why can't there be news stories about how awesome the customer experience at X has gotten?)
In fact, we see case studies as news (and even less-than-news) all day long here and elsewhere. You can tell by the titles that generally come from blogs and usually look clickbait-y: "How Company/Developer X achieved goal Y," "Why Language Z helped us triple our revenues," etc.
News is, by definition, about current events. Case studies are about past events. So, in general, they can't be the same thing (even if, of course, the publication of an interesting case study can be interesting - and current - news).
"Why can't there be news stories about how awesome the customer experience at X has gotten?": If you really want to know, I advise you to read "Storytelling: Branding in practice".
News is, by definition, about current events. Case studies are about past events.
You are logically incorrect. Well, by your own logic. How can you publish news about a current event? To be written as news it has to be happened in the past.
In his books he develops a very humanistic look at the role of businesses in our lives. As entrepreneurs, employees, and as customers. I won't be able to do the ideas justice here, but I will try:
A business obsessed with revenue and growth is like a person obsessed with how many breaths they have taken, or how much food is in their pantry -- these are means to an end, not ends in themselves. Food is required for life but it's not the purpose of living. Businesses as conceived by Semler and Fried aren't designed to maximize revenue so much as make the world a better place (#include your essay about google being almost a nonprofit).
It may be that stories of plumbers, barbers, and cafes wouldn't be interesting to you. I like to hear about people living enjoyable lives, delighting their customers, and making their corner of the universe a better place. It's a lot more psychically healthy than reading about people trying to gain the most while providing the least (the tech crunch articles Jason refers to)
So many people seem obsessed with getting a large quantity of money, and only then trying their hand at building a fulfilling life. I have always thought of Semler as running things in reverse: how do we design a seven day weekend that is cash positive?
(Semler's book, The Seven Day Weekend, is highly recommended to anyone who wants to hear more)