Some Linux distribution are born to be big. Like Debian, Ubuntu and RedHat.
Other Linux distributions are born to die, because only limited set of developers are self-interested in them.
And there are distributions which are born to live small. They are changing maintaners and developers, but don’t change the supporting idea. The example is Kongoni GNU/Linux. This is one of the few distributions born with an idea of freedom. This is one of the distributions approved by Free Software Foundation.