4 ms·
It begs the question of why we (generally) feel like tech startups need to think/behave differently than traditional businesses. "Startups" in the sense of new
by got2surf 9y ago
It begs the question of why we (generally) feel like tech startups need to think/behave differently than traditional businesses.
"Startups" in the sense of new businesses have been around for centuries (arguably longer). But recently, the popular image of most tech companies is raising large amounts of money to grow/scale really quickly. If anything, shouldn't the fact that engineers understand how to leverage technology lead to higher profitability and lower need for capital than all the brick-and-mortar businesses that came before us? Like the SparkFun founder says, as an engineer, I started a company that I knew how to build and implement on my own.
- codingdave 9y agoIt is mostly a question of terminology. Around here, "startup" is defined as hyper-growth, because YC chose to define it that way and HN came from YC. In other places, it can have a more flexible definition. So while most of the audience here will absolutely agree that you don't need VCs or insane growth to start a business, on HN, that would be coined as a "lifestyle" company, not a "startup". (And in my mind, more power to anyone who goes that route.)
- got2surf 9y agoGood point on the terminology. My main (and relatively early) experience has been that there are good lessons to be learned from both sides (like sustainable growth and profit models on the "non-startup" end, and rapid innovation/marketing on the "startup" end)