I think there's another issue. At a small company, everyone (usually) has a stake. Everyone wants to make the company succeed, because having the company succeed gives each individual a huge payout.

Beyond a certain size, however, new individuals will not receive huge payouts if the company succeeds. The strategies by which they maximize their individual return now involve politics, power and control. Short of killing the company, their reward is maximized by behavior which may hurt the company (and in my view always hurts the company but I'm bitter). An example of such behavior are putting forward tech ideas which may not fit the company but which the individual has had experience, and therefor has seniority and status. Another would be eliminating competition with bad reviews, or failing to acknowledge good work.

Beyond a certain size (perhaps its beyond a certain time) a company will be managed by "players" using the company for their own purposes. Non-players are identified and eliminated. These players don't really care if you can get the job done, they just want large departments to manage. In fact hiring idiots whose job depends on the player's good graces is a great way to balance intelligent people with legitimate complaints.

No. Wont be working at a large company again.