pg would argue Starbucks the Umbrella group is startup as it's an franchise operation focussed on growth. A single instance of Starbucks is a business focussed

pg would argue Starbucks the Umbrella group is startup as it's an franchise operation focussed on growth. A single instance of Starbucks is a business focussed on turning a profit. In fact even the name YC is YCombinator, which in programming is a "function that produces functions" and YC is supposed to be a startup that produces startups. Here Starbucks (Umbrella) is a startup that produces coffee shops (Starbucks). You can define startup or business however you like it's not a legally protected term. Just around these parts that's what it means and I personally find the distinction useful when reasoning about what does and doesn't have high growth potential.