Building on what Brian said. A few more characteristics of a start-up: 1. Technology (often web based) plays the key role in the interaction between the compa

Building on what Brian said. A few more characteristics of a start-up: 1. Technology (often web based) plays the key role in the interaction between the company and it's clients / users. 2. The present market either doesn't exist, or functions in a fundamentally different way before / outside of the startup. 3. The start-up is not as geographically limitted as the new business. That's not to say that a start-up can't be location specific, but if it is, it should be a platform that can be applied to other locations. And a few characteristics of a new business: 1. A new business, like a say a bakery, is another instance of a proven business that addresses the market in the accepted, historical way. There are many bakeries, they are fundamentally no different from each other. In fact, it's likely one of the oldest professions still still actively being pursued. Each takes raw ingredients and makes baked goods out of them. Each then try to sell them for more than their costs. 2. New businesses are often very location specific and often rely heavily on face to face interaction, or local phone/email interaction to complete transactions. 3. New businesses often rely on physical goods or services for the basis of their offering, where with start-ups technology is often the basis for the interaction. Selling your new-businesses good via an online store, does not automatically make your new-business a start-up. In the case of the t-shirt entrepenuer and the baker, they are most certainly not start-ups, but just new-businesses trying to do business online. In short, a start-up is a new business, but a new business is not necessarily a start-up.