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I would have thought the definition of a successful startup would be profitability on top of paying founders decent wages. If there are external investors it i
by josephlord 14y ago
I would have thought the definition of a successful startup would be profitability on top of paying founders decent wages.
If there are external investors it is probably true that a liquidity event is the goal but if owner funded or bootstrapped I don't see anything particularly bad about a lifestyle business that is profitable enough to support a good lifestyle.
- il 14y agoThere's absolutely nothing wrong with a profitable small business that can sustain its founders. I've done it, I think it's great. I'm just saying that lifestyle business!=startup. There's some confusion about the definition of a startup. Nobody would argue that a sandwich shop that makes $200K a year is a startup, but some people would call a SaaS webapp making $200K a year with no plans for rapid growth a startup. This article specifically applies to startups.
- josephlord 14y agoPersonally I'd call both startups for the first 2-3 years of business.