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“Working at a startup is demanding. GitLab team members are often under a lot of pressure.” Isn’t being a $7.5B publicly-traded company the definition of not a

“Working at a startup is demanding. GitLab team members are often under a lot of pressure.” Isn’t being a $7.5B publicly-traded company the definition of not a startup?

john_cogs 4y ago
GitLab has documented how to still be a startup after IPO: https://about.gitlab.com/company/still-a-startup/ https://about.gitlab.com/company/still-a-startup/
- dijit 4y ago
  I think that’s a lovely page and some excellent sentiments in many areas. However I feel that it’s important to accept reality and not attempt to redefine words. A startup is literally defined as to “get something moving”, I would say at this point that gitlab is definitely in the realm of “in motion” and has a significant amount of inertia. It is not in the first stages of becoming a company, it is a relatively well-oiled, thought through and publicly traded company. Obviously terms can be fuzzy, there may be no single event that defines gitlab as no longer being a startup and no particular point in time being the point of state alteration. But gitlab as it exists today definitely does not meet my own personal and informal definition of startup, and I suspect that is true for many people.
- kadomony 4y ago
  So basically, how to continue to exploit your employees for maximum output even though technically people can chill out. Got it.
- skipants 4y ago
  I've been following this feature request for awhile now: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/32712 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/32712 Look at how many different hands this had to pass through before anything got done. I don't think I've seen any startup survive working like that. Oh and nothing is done yet, 5 months later. It's still in the "design phase".
s_dev 4y ago
This is HN while not everyone's subscribes to everything pg says there is a lot of agreement on what constitutes a startup and differentiates it from other more conventional businesses. PG says a startup is any company who looks at growth as their primary measure. A business is any company who looks at the bottom line as their primary measure. So it depends on the definition you wish to subscribe to. There isn't a universal consensus but in this sense many HNers would see GitLab as a startup despite being worth many Billions.
- dijit 4y ago
  > PG says a startup is any company who looks at growth as their primary measure. Intel is a startup by this definition.
  - chrsig 4y ago
    I'm willing to bet there is a non zero number of executives at intel that seem to be under the impression that it is.
  - s_dev 4y ago
    Correct -- and he cites big companies like Google and Amazon as still being startups. I agree with this definition -- it's very useful for distinguishing different types of companies and ultimately why some can earn SO much more in investment compared to others.
    - dijit 4y ago
      Oh. I really have a negative emotional response to abusing language like this. All companies focus on growth to some extent. A growth-focused company is, in my option, a completely separate thing from a startup. Though startups are usually extremely growth focused.
    - mellavora 4y ago
      What about Cisco, then? They are also very much focused on growth, and there was a time not so long ago when they were as dominant as Google/Amazon. I really don't see how the definition is helpful in distinguishing companies, nor on how it has anything to do with which companies will be market winners. For another example, Twist Biosciences. Some truly amazing tech, in a market which will dominate the future. They traded for about $20-30 from 2018 to early 2020. Peaked around 180 (6x 30)in Jan 2021. Currently trading as 31.92. Are they a startup?

“Working at a startup is demanding. GitLab team members are often under a lot of pressure.” Isn’t being a $7.5B publicly-traded company the definition of not a startup?

john_cogs 4y ago

GitLab has documented how to still be a startup after IPO: https://about.gitlab.com/company/still-a-startup/ https://about.gitlab.com/company/still-a-startup/

dijit 4y ago
I think that’s a lovely page and some excellent sentiments in many areas. However I feel that it’s important to accept reality and not attempt to redefine words. A startup is literally defined as to “get something moving”, I would say at this point that gitlab is definitely in the realm of “in motion” and has a significant amount of inertia. It is not in the first stages of becoming a company, it is a relatively well-oiled, thought through and publicly traded company. Obviously terms can be fuzzy, there may be no single event that defines gitlab as no longer being a startup and no particular point in time being the point of state alteration. But gitlab as it exists today definitely does not meet my own personal and informal definition of startup, and I suspect that is true for many people.
kadomony 4y ago
So basically, how to continue to exploit your employees for maximum output even though technically people can chill out. Got it.
skipants 4y ago
I've been following this feature request for awhile now: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/32712 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/32712 Look at how many different hands this had to pass through before anything got done. I don't think I've seen any startup survive working like that. Oh and nothing is done yet, 5 months later. It's still in the "design phase".

s_dev 4y ago

This is HN while not everyone's subscribes to everything pg says there is a lot of agreement on what constitutes a startup and differentiates it from other more conventional businesses. PG says a startup is any company who looks at growth as their primary measure. A business is any company who looks at the bottom line as their primary measure. So it depends on the definition you wish to subscribe to. There isn't a universal consensus but in this sense many HNers would see GitLab as a startup despite being worth many Billions.

dijit 4y ago
> PG says a startup is any company who looks at growth as their primary measure. Intel is a startup by this definition.
- chrsig 4y ago
  I'm willing to bet there is a non zero number of executives at intel that seem to be under the impression that it is.
- s_dev 4y ago
  Correct -- and he cites big companies like Google and Amazon as still being startups. I agree with this definition -- it's very useful for distinguishing different types of companies and ultimately why some can earn SO much more in investment compared to others.
  - dijit 4y ago
    Oh. I really have a negative emotional response to abusing language like this. All companies focus on growth to some extent. A growth-focused company is, in my option, a completely separate thing from a startup. Though startups are usually extremely growth focused.
  - mellavora 4y ago
    What about Cisco, then? They are also very much focused on growth, and there was a time not so long ago when they were as dominant as Google/Amazon. I really don't see how the definition is helpful in distinguishing companies, nor on how it has anything to do with which companies will be market winners. For another example, Twist Biosciences. Some truly amazing tech, in a market which will dominate the future. They traded for about $20-30 from 2018 to early 2020. Peaked around 180 (6x 30)in Jan 2021. Currently trading as 31.92. Are they a startup?