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So it looks like the difference between a startup and a small business is that the priority one for startups is technology or new business model (innovation) an

• grellas 17y ago
  I wouldn't push any definition too far on this point because the lines tend to blur all too quickly. I think what I reacted to in the original post was the assumption that, in the whole universe of startup activity, only companies going for broke with industry-changing ideas can be called startups. This would mean that the only startups worthy of the name are those funded by VCs and this simply is not the case. In addition, even if you as a founder go for VC funding, you need to understand the potential range of exits realistically available to your company because this affects how hard you want to push for a high valuation, etc. (e.g., if you push for a $60M valuation in, say, a B round, and the VCs routinely expect a 10x return, then you had better be prepared to build a more "strategic" company and to take the risks associated with it if your realistic exit path at that point will be $600M given the expectations of the VCs - maybe better in such a case not to push for the ultimate valuation to give your company more flexibility in how much it needs to scale before shooting for an exit - there is a big difference between a startup shooting to be a niche-market player versus one that wants to shake up an entire industry, and this distinction affects how its strategic goals are defined, who will manage it, and many other issues - founders need to keep such distinctions in mind as part of their strategic thinking about their companies and not just blindly go for broke).