I think he glossed over that type of business because it's not a startup. It is a perfectly reasonable style for many who wish to start a new business, but the course is focused on startups.
Sure, it's not a well defined term with a universally agreed upon definition, but now we're just arguing semantics.
You like to define it as a new, for-profit business. Seems reasonable. However, I found that many others use the term to specifically refer to the kind of high risk, high growth company that meet the investment profile of typical venture capitalists.
It seems obvious that the good people of startup school are using the word startup in the latter sense. And honestly that sense of the word seems more common. Most people refer to what you do as bootstrapping, not a startup.
But is it really that interesting to have an argument over the definition of startup?
I don't think anyone at startup school is against bootstrapping. They're probably not against enterprises either. The event just has a focus.
> A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some sort of "exit." The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth.
nhorob67|9 years ago
jaredklewis|9 years ago
You like to define it as a new, for-profit business. Seems reasonable. However, I found that many others use the term to specifically refer to the kind of high risk, high growth company that meet the investment profile of typical venture capitalists.
It seems obvious that the good people of startup school are using the word startup in the latter sense. And honestly that sense of the word seems more common. Most people refer to what you do as bootstrapping, not a startup.
But is it really that interesting to have an argument over the definition of startup?
I don't think anyone at startup school is against bootstrapping. They're probably not against enterprises either. The event just has a focus.
swampthing|9 years ago
http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html
> A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some sort of "exit." The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth.
neuromancer2701|9 years ago