This is just semantic confusion. A local restaurant is not a highly scaleable technology company. They're both "new businesses" but radically different in every

This is just semantic confusion. A local restaurant is not a highly scaleable technology company. They're both "new businesses" but radically different in every other way. It's an apples and oranges comparison. One good definition of a Silicon Valley "startup" is Paul Graham's: "A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some sort of "exit." The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth." http://paulgraham.com/growth.html http://paulgraham.com/growth.html