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Why “Barnacles”? The venture capitalists own the term “startup” and it’s not worth fighting over. There isn’t really any perfect term for this business niche, s

by jarcane 11y ago

Why “Barnacles”? The venture capitalists own the term “startup” and it’s not worth fighting over. There isn’t really any perfect term for this business niche, so I punted on trying to invent one. The term is "small business." There are millions of them all over the world. More of them than there are "startups" by number at the least. It never ceases to amaze me how warped and myopic the tech industry's understanding of the world is.

deleted 11y ago
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gphil 11y ago
The problem with using "small business" as a blanket term is that they vary widely in stage and ambition. For example, it's a mouthful to distinguish between "brand new small business" and "established small business" as well as "small business that intends to stay small" and "small business that intends to pursue growth to become medium-sized or large-sized without taking dilutive investment."
- coldtea 11y ago
  For 95%+ of small businesses in the world, it's "small businesses with no VC involved, and who intent to stay small" [1]. Startups in the SV notion of the term don't even compare in number, even in the US. Heck, every accounting firm you see, it's such as "small business". Every local grocery store. Every restaurant. Every ice cream parlor. Every jewelry maker. The list goes on and on... [1] Well, they wouldn't say no to striking it big, but it's not like SV founders dreaming of $10B exit.
derefr 11y ago
Small businesses (or SMEs, even) are categories that include start-ups, though—at least during one phase of a start-up's lifecycle. There is no single "advice for small businesses" (except maybe "pursue grants"?) because different SMEs have different trajectories, and thus different spending/hiring/etc. strategies. There really does need to be a term for "SME pursuing a growth-heavy strategy, to the degree that's possible without outside assistance."
- TaylorPearson 11y ago
  Strongly agree. Lifestyle Business is not doing it for me. I would say "technology enabled SME pursuing a growth-heavy strategy without outside assistance" There is a fundamental difference in how you start/grow/manage an internet based business vs. a geographically based one.
m52go 11y ago
My understanding is that this community is oriented toward technology entrepreneurs executing smaller opportunities, so same crowd as HN minus those shooting to build the next Facebook or Uber. I'm not sure if "small business" is an appropriate word to describe a product/service without geographic boundaries. It is if you're starting a dry-cleaner or restaurant, but I'm not sure that's what this crowd is doing. Happy barnacling.
Harkins 11y ago
If you have a domain name using the term "small business" that you would like to donate, my inbox is open.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- LoSboccacc 11y ago
  I've smooth.business does that qualify?
  - chejazi 11y ago
    I feel like bumpy.business might be a more appropriate name for a site devoted to startups :)
hinkley 11y ago
Why should it surprise you? We celebrate people who cloister themselves for 10 years, from the moment they go to college until they're 28, and you wonder why they have such a loose grasp of reality? They haven't participated during the most formative years of their lives.
dang 11y ago
> It never ceases to amaze me how warped and myopic the tech industry's understanding of the world is. Grandiose slurs like this count as calling names in arguments, which is against the rules here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. There's no content in such a statement, merely indignation and setting yourself above others. That appeals to others who share the same identity sentiment (in this case, anti-"tech industry" as opposed to pro-"tech industry", not that these things mean anything), but it does not add information to a discussion, which is what we're looking for. The rest of your comment is fine, of course, though not necessarily true—these terms aren't obviously synonymous.

by jarcane 11y ago

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

gphil 11y ago

The problem with using "small business" as a blanket term is that they vary widely in stage and ambition. For example, it's a mouthful to distinguish between "brand new small business" and "established small business" as well as "small business that intends to stay small" and "small business that intends to pursue growth to become medium-sized or large-sized without taking dilutive investment."

coldtea 11y ago
For 95%+ of small businesses in the world, it's "small businesses with no VC involved, and who intent to stay small" [1]. Startups in the SV notion of the term don't even compare in number, even in the US. Heck, every accounting firm you see, it's such as "small business". Every local grocery store. Every restaurant. Every ice cream parlor. Every jewelry maker. The list goes on and on... [1] Well, they wouldn't say no to striking it big, but it's not like SV founders dreaming of $10B exit.

derefr 11y ago

Small businesses (or SMEs, even) are categories that include start-ups, though—at least during one phase of a start-up's lifecycle. There is no single "advice for small businesses" (except maybe "pursue grants"?) because different SMEs have different trajectories, and thus different spending/hiring/etc. strategies. There really does need to be a term for "SME pursuing a growth-heavy strategy, to the degree that's possible without outside assistance."

TaylorPearson 11y ago
Strongly agree. Lifestyle Business is not doing it for me. I would say "technology enabled SME pursuing a growth-heavy strategy without outside assistance" There is a fundamental difference in how you start/grow/manage an internet based business vs. a geographically based one.

m52go 11y ago

My understanding is that this community is oriented toward technology entrepreneurs executing smaller opportunities, so same crowd as HN minus those shooting to build the next Facebook or Uber. I'm not sure if "small business" is an appropriate word to describe a product/service without geographic boundaries. It is if you're starting a dry-cleaner or restaurant, but I'm not sure that's what this crowd is doing. Happy barnacling.

Harkins 11y ago

If you have a domain name using the term "small business" that you would like to donate, my inbox is open.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
LoSboccacc 11y ago
I've smooth.business does that qualify?
- chejazi 11y ago
  I feel like bumpy.business might be a more appropriate name for a site devoted to startups :)

hinkley 11y ago

Why should it surprise you? We celebrate people who cloister themselves for 10 years, from the moment they go to college until they're 28, and you wonder why they have such a loose grasp of reality? They haven't participated during the most formative years of their lives.

dang 11y ago

> It never ceases to amaze me how warped and myopic the tech industry's understanding of the world is. Grandiose slurs like this count as calling names in arguments, which is against the rules here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. There's no content in such a statement, merely indignation and setting yourself above others. That appeals to others who share the same identity sentiment (in this case, anti-"tech industry" as opposed to pro-"tech industry", not that these things mean anything), but it does not add information to a discussion, which is what we're looking for. The rest of your comment is fine, of course, though not necessarily true—these terms aren't obviously synonymous.