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In general you are right. Start-up should be the word for any new business. But in recent years the venture capital driven fast growing new-tech business type w
by erikb 11y ago
In general you are right. Start-up should be the word for any new business. But in recent years the venture capital driven fast growing new-tech business type was mostly associated with that word, especially on HN (since Y-Combinator is a school for exactly that kind of business). That's why I gave an example that is pretty much on the opposite scale. It's also a new business but not what people think about when they hear the word "start-up".
- dpark 11y agoI edited to address this a little more specifically and you likely missed it. It's still unverified that even high-growth tech startups fail 80% in the first year. How many "Facebooks for {foo} and Uber for {bar}" actually fail in the first year? If you define a high-growth tech startup from the time it takes investment or the time it incorporates, I bet you still don't hit 80% failure rate in the first year. (If you count abandoned ideas that were never meaningfully pursued, then sure, but in that case I've got a dozen failed startups under my belt and a similar number of failed restaurants.)
- k__ 11y agoWas start-up really simply the word for new businesses in (american?) English? I heard it only for the business you describe, but lately every newly created design/tech-consultancy here calls itself a start-up.
- Ntrails 11y agoI'd say if a company takes venture capital it's a start up, whereas something based on bank loans and self capitalisation is just a business. But I don't have any justification for that - just my association of the word.
- erikb 11y agoYeah, it became popular, so no definition is really true anymore. Everybody tries to claim it for themselves to get the coolest tech people and the most VC dollars.
- k__ 11y agoIt's often a bit confusing. I get a job offer from people who say "We are a start-up" and then they are just another dumb agency. If I want agency work, I freelance.
- collyw 11y agoThe way people I hear people use it to describe their own businesses, it seems to describe a business that isn't making money yet (large or small).
- rconti 11y agoIf I start a McDonalds francise, even if it's my first-ever business, it's DEFINITELY not a startup.