2 ms·
It would be easier and more accurate simply to define a startup as a company which intends to derive its profits from a product which it has not yet finished bu
by dfranke 19y ago
It would be easier and more accurate simply to define a startup as a company which intends to derive its profits from a product which it has not yet finished building.
- nostrademons 19y agoWhat does it mean to "finish" building a product? FaceBook's product is on the market, and it's profitable. It's obviously not "finished", as they're adding to it daily. Most people would call FaceBook a startup. Microsoft Windows is on the market, and it's profitable. It isn't "finished" either: just look at Vista. And certain areas of Microsoft - Silverlight, F#, LINQ - are most definitely not finished, and nobody knows if there's an eventual market for them. Yet most people would not call Microsoft a startup.
- dfranke 19y agoI don't call Facebook a startup. They were once, but they're an established company now. Once your first product is earning a profit (and I mean your real product, not Reddit T-shirts), you're out of the startup phase.
- jey 19y agoIf foo.com causes enough people to buy foo.com t-shirts to feed you and clothe you, why not consider that "established"? Case in point: the guy who runs http://xkcd.com http://xkcd.com works on xkcd full time and is entirely supported by the stuff sold through the xkcd store. (P.S. xkcd rocks)