PG gave a definition [1] a while back, which was that startups were about growth. That seems the best definition I can think of: when you say you're doing a sta

PG gave a definition [1] a while back, which was that startups were about growth. That seems the best definition I can think of: when you say you're doing a startup, I can implicitly understand that you're trying to build a scalable business that can grow very quickly. It also means that in addition to figuring out what your product should be, you are also in search of a sustainable growth strategy. Of course, lots of people outside this definition call their small businesses "startups",esp tech people, and it feels like this is because they want to be part of the startup community. This seems good to me, so I think we shouldn't be too tight with our definitions. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html