4 ms·

No, I'd say PG's definition is simply more narrow. Blank is covering the "grow fast" part of PG's definition by "repeatable and scalable". Though I highly doub

by filip01 14y ago

No, I'd say PG's definition is simply more narrow. Blank is covering the "grow fast" part of PG's definition by "repeatable and scalable". Though I highly doubt PG would in fact define "startup" as "a company designed to grow fast". Pretty sure he would agree there's also a "search for a business model" aspect to it.

adrianhoward 14y ago
Hmmmm... I don't think just that PG's definition is a subset of Blank's. Unless he's changed his tune in the latest book (The Startup Manual is still in my to read pile) then under his definition the company stops being a startup once you have achieved the "repeatable and scalable" bit. Then it's just "a company" :-) For Blank Startup == being in Customer Discover/Validation phase. Once you're out of there and in Customer Creation & Company Building you're no longer "a startup" - you've found your business model and are busy applying the heck out of it. Under pg's definition the bit that defines the startup is the "Customer Creation" stage when you've found your business model and and are growing fast (to quote "Together these three phases produce an S-curve. The phase whose growth defines the startup is the second one, the ascent."). Under Blank's definition you've stopped being a startup at this point - you've found your scalable business model. Under pg's definition you would still be a "startup" in the Customer Creation & Company Building stages as long as you're growing and haven't hit internal/market boundaries that slow your growth. Also PG's focus on fast growth doesn't seem to be present in Blank's work. I'm think Blank would be happy to call the early days of a new retail organisation like Ulta Salon a "startup" (they found a new repeatable and scalable business model for retail, taking the beauty counters out of the larger stores and sticking 'em as stand alone stores on cheaper real estate). I get the impression that their very impressive growth (for retail) of 92% since 2006 wouldn't count as "startup" under PG's definition... or maybe not.... I don't know.

by filip01 14y ago

adrianhoward 14y ago

Hmmmm... I don't think just that PG's definition is a subset of Blank's. Unless he's changed his tune in the latest book (The Startup Manual is still in my to read pile) then under his definition the company stops being a startup once you have achieved the "repeatable and scalable" bit. Then it's just "a company" :-) For Blank Startup == being in Customer Discover/Validation phase. Once you're out of there and in Customer Creation & Company Building you're no longer "a startup" - you've found your business model and are busy applying the heck out of it. Under pg's definition the bit that defines the startup is the "Customer Creation" stage when you've found your business model and and are growing fast (to quote "Together these three phases produce an S-curve. The phase whose growth defines the startup is the second one, the ascent."). Under Blank's definition you've stopped being a startup at this point - you've found your scalable business model. Under pg's definition you would still be a "startup" in the Customer Creation & Company Building stages as long as you're growing and haven't hit internal/market boundaries that slow your growth. Also PG's focus on fast growth doesn't seem to be present in Blank's work. I'm think Blank would be happy to call the early days of a new retail organisation like Ulta Salon a "startup" (they found a new repeatable and scalable business model for retail, taking the beauty counters out of the larger stores and sticking 'em as stand alone stores on cheaper real estate). I get the impression that their very impressive growth (for retail) of 92% since 2006 wouldn't count as "startup" under PG's definition... or maybe not.... I don't know.