building from scratch is mind-bogglingly easy compared to changing something

Building something with a single purpose from scratch is mind-bogglingly easy compared to changing something that already exists. 
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The real cost of complexity increases exponentially.
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One guy wrote eBay in a day -- one guy, one day! When they built version 2, the project took the same guy many weeks. Version 3 took many years. There can never be a version 4
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why does each version take longer -- even if replacing the system in full? The answer is that small amounts of increases in perceived complexity (e.g. each new requirement) expands the real complexity of the system exponentially. Want examples? Take a hand-built web-site and add internationalization / localization. Add accessibility support. Add support for other devices, such as an iPhone. Add scale-out. Add high availability. Add security. If you know someone that thinks it's easy, then whatever you do, don't hire that person, fire them if they already work for you, and quit if you work for them.

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