Look at the business model. In a pyramid scheme, the primary business model is recruiting other people into the scheme, rather than selling actual goods or serv

Look at the business model. In a pyramid scheme, the primary business model is recruiting other people into the scheme, rather than selling actual goods or services. They ostensibly sell goods or services, but to join, you typically have to pay money to buy products from someone else at the company. You hope to sell at a profit, but the only real way to recoup your 'investment' is to recruit someone else into the scheme. That said, startups can be full of toxic hierarchies, exploitation, unequal distribution of benefits, and similar qualities, but that's been true for centuries of capitalism.