I guess everyone is entitled to interpret words however they like, but the salient attribute of a startup is exactly what the word means: it's a new venture. A

I guess everyone is entitled to interpret words however they like, but the salient attribute of a startup is exactly what the word means: it's a new venture. And from the perspective of a landlord, that's what matters. New companies are the least predictable in their needs, their revenue stream, and their long-term prospects. They tend to have inexperienced managers and flighty owners. All of these things are true regardless of how they are funded, what industry they operate in or whether the owners are trying to become huge overnight, bootstrap into a comfortable living, or whatever else. Established companies grow and shrink, too. They close offices and factories, open new ones, and occasionally file for bankruptcy protection. But they do these things much less frequently than a new company, and they do it with the backing of a much larger and more reliable cash flow. That cash flow means that even in bankruptcy, an established company's creditors usually end up with a significant recovery. From a landlord's perspective, these are the things that make established companies more attractive than startups. Thus, in this context at least, "startup" means nothing but "new company" and carries none of the other connotations that most people here assume when hearing the term.