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LinkedIn is straight up a Microsoft property now, so it's not even considered "late-stage" anymore. Netflix was founded in the late 90s, so if you consider the

• cperciva 8y ago
  I agree that Netflix isn't a startup, but I'd say that looking at their founding date is misleading -- Netflix-the-streaming-video-service is an almost completely different company from Netflix-the-DVDs-in-the-mail company.
• keesj 8y ago
  Some good points. We don't concrete criteria for which companies we consider startups, but it's something along the lines of "is this a technology company that is disrupting the marketing, and/or rapidly evolving its business model"? I do think that's the case for Netflix, even though technically it was founded a while ago. LinkedIn is a bit harder to defend as its business model seems to have stagnated.
  • jkaplowitz 8y ago
    I wouldn't think any publicly traded company, nor any subsidiary of a non-startup, qualifies as a startup, even if they previously did before they exited. The tough categorization calls in my opinion are for slow-growing or stagnant long-private tech companies. With your definition, doesn't Amazon still qualify? It's majorly disrupting markets and rapidly evolving its business model. And it's definitely a tech company.
• jammygit 8y ago
  Netflix is still pre-profit and growth oriented in an attempt to capture/develop a market, and its value is based on speculations about it succeeding. It isn't quite a startup, but its also a bit of a startup... Correct me if I'm wrong.
• thekyle 8y ago
  Not to mention that Netflix is also publicly traded. Personally, I would not consider any public company to be a startup.