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That definition of "startup" is very valley-centric. Most of the rest of the world still means it the way the grandparent meant. A small, fairly young company t

That definition of "startup" is very valley-centric. Most of the rest of the world still means it the way the grandparent meant. A small, fairly young company that is building a new product/service.

sillysaurus3 9y ago
There's a word for that: a business. If someone built a bar in your neighborhood, would you call it a startup? It meets all your criteria. But at that point the word becomes useless. You could argue that it's not a new service. Yet some of the most successful startups applied technology to old ideas, like Craigslist and eBay.
- rimliu 9y ago
  New bar would still offer the old service (beer). Startup will offer new product/service.
  - nip 9y ago
    A startup is a business with a high growth potential, otherwise it's just a business as already pointed out by @sillysaurus3. If tomorrow 250 people are queuing to get a drink from your bar, you won't be able to cater to their needs, nor the next day, opening a new brick-and-mortar business takes a lot of time. A startup would be able to scale (after a couple of days / week) and fulfill the customers' needs.
    - joshyeager 9y ago
      PG invented that definition when he started YC. It's a good definition, and useful in the VC world. But it's not the original definition, and most of the non-VC/Valley world still uses the original one: a business that is trying to build something new, whether it's aiming for big growth or just a steady new market.
BoorishBears 9y ago
I disagree, here in CT of all places the distinction between business and startup is the same, focused on growth. I've heard multiple in the area VCs on multiple occasions confirm their worst nightmare is a "lifestyle business", not growing fast enough for 10x growth but not dying so they can write off their losses
- KON_Air 9y ago
  They are all "business" in the end after all, I'll stick with the tiny nuance that "startup funding" became a more PR friendly replacement for "unicorn hunt". Not that there is anything wrong with it, but "could have been easily avoided" stuff like these happen more often.

That definition of "startup" is very valley-centric. Most of the rest of the world still means it the way the grandparent meant. A small, fairly young company that is building a new product/service.

sillysaurus3 9y ago

There's a word for that: a business. If someone built a bar in your neighborhood, would you call it a startup? It meets all your criteria. But at that point the word becomes useless. You could argue that it's not a new service. Yet some of the most successful startups applied technology to old ideas, like Craigslist and eBay.

rimliu 9y ago
New bar would still offer the old service (beer). Startup will offer new product/service.
- nip 9y ago
  A startup is a business with a high growth potential, otherwise it's just a business as already pointed out by @sillysaurus3. If tomorrow 250 people are queuing to get a drink from your bar, you won't be able to cater to their needs, nor the next day, opening a new brick-and-mortar business takes a lot of time. A startup would be able to scale (after a couple of days / week) and fulfill the customers' needs.
  - joshyeager 9y ago
    PG invented that definition when he started YC. It's a good definition, and useful in the VC world. But it's not the original definition, and most of the non-VC/Valley world still uses the original one: a business that is trying to build something new, whether it's aiming for big growth or just a steady new market.

BoorishBears 9y ago

I disagree, here in CT of all places the distinction between business and startup is the same, focused on growth. I've heard multiple in the area VCs on multiple occasions confirm their worst nightmare is a "lifestyle business", not growing fast enough for 10x growth but not dying so they can write off their losses

KON_Air 9y ago
They are all "business" in the end after all, I'll stick with the tiny nuance that "startup funding" became a more PR friendly replacement for "unicorn hunt". Not that there is anything wrong with it, but "could have been easily avoided" stuff like these happen more often.