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I'm used to thinking that a "startup" implies a small company with hockey-stick growth and eventual market domination, usually deploying large amounts of capita
by nine_k 1y ago
I'm used to thinking that a "startup" implies a small company with hockey-stick growth and eventual market domination, usually deploying large amounts of capital to fuel the growth. Otherwise it's just a sparking small business: a pizzeria is not a startup.
It seems that the internet allows for a third option: a small company that grows slowly and organically which eventually captures a significant market segment, still staying small. GitHub was like that for many years since founding. Linear apparently is another example.
- 8n4vidtmkvmk 1y agoIs there a better word for these grow slow companies?
- all2 1y ago"Normal growth"?
- rebuilder 1y agoSmall business?
- eviluncle 1y ago"hypeless growth"
- kchoudhu 1y agoBusinesses
- jacquesm 1y agoSolid? Right up to the point some funded start-up starts giving away the same thing in the hope that they can fake it until they make it and take everybody else in the same space down with them.
- disgruntledphd2 1y agoLinear is a really, really good product though, so it is worth paying for.
- layer8 1y agoSME, bootstrapped business.
- designerbenny 1y agoIf you slow grow and keep it smallish, then it’s a “lifestyle business”. That number can change but maybe $5million or less ARR. Thats enough to pay yourself and a few staff with benefits. But like palata said above, it is a startup if hasn’t found product-market fit.
- palata 1y agoI consider that it is a startup when it hasn't found a product-market fit, i.e. it is not profitable. As soon as it is profitable, it is a normal company. Small or big. An established company has established products and keep building/improving them. A startup does not have that: they just have ideas and try them until one works, or they run out of money. VCs consider it's worth fueling that "trial-and-error" with investments because they believe it is a competent team in a promising field. Nothing more, nothing less, it's just a lottery after that point. Just one where VCs and founders like to believe they are enlightened. Because the first idea you try is successful does not mean you know more than the (numerous) others, but rather that you were lucky at the first try.