The Violence of a Startup

Life inside a successful web start-ups, especially the really successful ones, can be nasty, brutish and short. As companies grow exponentially, egos clash, investors jockey for control, and business complexities rapidly exceed the managerial abilities of the founders.
Venture Capitalist Peter Fenton calls this phenomenon “the violence of a startup.”
At iROKO I would consider our growth rapid.
* 2 people in November 2010 (Lagos)
* 5 people in in January 2011 (Lagos)
* 25 people in February 2011 (Lagos)
* 45 people in April 2011 (Lagos)
* 60 people in August 2011 (Lagos)
* 90 people in December 2011 (Lagos and London)
* 110 people in July 2012 (Lagos, NYC and London)
In January 2013 we added the 4-person team in JoBurg which we expect to grow over the course of the year.
This is fast, but in Nigeria I have known Internet startups to grow considerably faster. Jumia (230+) and Konga (100+) have grown their employee base larger than iROKO’s in half the time.
The Year of Growth.
I have...