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The word startup really has lost all meaning. Everything is a startup now. If LOLCats launched today it would probably be called an Internet Meme Startup. More

The word startup really has lost all meaning. Everything is a startup now. If LOLCats launched today it would probably be called an Internet Meme Startup. More troubling however is where people have gotten this idea that you don't need to think about how to monetize something from the start. There are a ton of people out there who literally think they can just launch a website (in many cases it's just a static site, not even a useful app) and it'll magically make them money. Do they think ad revenue is generated simply by posting the ads? Do they believe that they'll start getting checks from VCs in the mail out of nowhere? Do they actually think what they saw in The Social Network was an exact reproduction of reality? What is it? Please tell me because it bugs the living hell out of me! I constantly get people asking me to build them a website that will make them money but the site they ask for is either a clone of an existing site with nothing but a name difference or they just ask for, and I swear to god this happens, "just gimme a template and I'll drag and drop the parts of my app in using (here they either mention Ms Word, Frontpage, or Dreamweaver)". Talk about a WTF moment.

rdouble 15y ago
LOLcats is perhaps a bad example as that guy was making $5600/m out of the gate and has grown to a 50 person company with $41M in investment.
- billpatrianakos 15y ago
  Agreed, I do tend to use that as an example a lot. Bad example aside, what qualifies as a startup now? Internet meme sites surely gather a few bucks for their creators but is that a startup? What about affiliate links? Those guys can make a good living from affiliate links but are they startups? There's the dictionary definition and then there's the way we commonly use it which varies a bit from person to person. One thing I'm sure about though is that if it isn't built to collect cash it's not a startup. A startup is a type of business. Like Business is the class and Startup inherits business' traits along with a few that unique to it. I was always taught that a startup was a business that starts from nothing and grows faster and generates more momey in a shorter period than a traditional business.

rdouble 15y ago

LOLcats is perhaps a bad example as that guy was making $5600/m out of the gate and has grown to a 50 person company with $41M in investment.

billpatrianakos 15y ago
Agreed, I do tend to use that as an example a lot. Bad example aside, what qualifies as a startup now? Internet meme sites surely gather a few bucks for their creators but is that a startup? What about affiliate links? Those guys can make a good living from affiliate links but are they startups? There's the dictionary definition and then there's the way we commonly use it which varies a bit from person to person. One thing I'm sure about though is that if it isn't built to collect cash it's not a startup. A startup is a type of business. Like Business is the class and Startup inherits business' traits along with a few that unique to it. I was always taught that a startup was a business that starts from nothing and grows faster and generates more momey in a shorter period than a traditional business.