This is pretty interesting 

John Battelle moderating Joe Kraus from Jot/Google, Mena Trott Six Apart/Typepad and Jay from Digg.

Google is Nerd Paradise  - Joe.   Talking about emotional decisions.

Doing the right thing by the starting team and giving them a return on their effort and commitment.  

The challenge of seeing what happened to YouTube, Skype and DoubleClick and going "Well, if they can get that much..."

And the parent pressure "Well, what are you doing? They sold out big.." 

Is the golden age of a great small team that changes things over?

No way, never. All big teams start as small teams.