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I always ask myself when does a startup stop being called like that and become a company or enteprise. Some of the "startups" on this list are clearly pretty gr
by iagooar 11y ago
I always ask myself when does a startup stop being called like that and become a company or enteprise. Some of the "startups" on this list are clearly pretty grown up and calling them like that seems a bit odd to me.
This, or they keep calling themselves startups because it's cool and you can pay your employees a lot less.
- jacquesm 11y agoA good rule is that it is a start-up as long as everybody knows everybody else by name and is allowed to talk to the CEO directly.
- wongarsu 11y agoI worked at a small technology company where that's still true and the company is two decades old by now (very successful in a very small market). There are probably small watch-makers that are over a century old and still a start-up by this measure.
- jacquesm 11y agoApologies, I was assuming recent entry on the corporate scene and a goal of growth but if you feel that small watchmakers over a century old are 'in scope' then I should have probably been more clear.
- wongarsu 11y agoThe problem with that is that in Europe "entry on the corporate scene" is not as much a thing as it is in the US. Most companies here are comfortable staying small or growing slowly, while American companies seem to generally seek out drastic growth. It's a culture difference that makes classifying things as startup or not startup more difficult.
- wlievens 11y agoI work for a company with ~50m revenue, 75 employees that's exited a year ago, and both your criteria are true. I don't think we're a startup though.
- raverbashing 11y agoI like that rule, but I think the best definition of start-up is the more 'original' one. A company is a startup when they still have doubts about their business model. Hence, when people start paying for your service (not investment), it's not a startup anymore.
- tonyjstark 11y agoThis. I always wonder when a startup becomes a company too. I heard Soundcloud is paying good money though but at least for all the Berlin startups the wage is more one the low side. Wire for example is based in Switzerland for taxes but the development happens in Berlin. A not-to-be-named company I worked for decided not to outsource development to Warsaw since developers are more expensive there than in Berlin (they found even cheaper ones later in other countries though). For some of the list I still wonder why and how they exist since I don't get the business model but maybe a startup is a startup as long as they live from investor money.
- thijsc 11y agoI like Steve Blank's definition: A startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. See: http://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-principles/ http://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-princ...