- info@parsalandco.com
- +989124000464
- +989127093613
Menu
Already making money from the get-go? Nailed your product-market fit? Then you’re not a startup, at least according to Geoff Roberts, Co-Founder of Outseta.
“A startup is any new business venture that’s starting from scratch and trying to build something of value — when I say ‘scratch’ in a for-profit setting, I mean that the business has no revenue,” Geoff says.
“I consider businesses to be in the startup phase from zero dollars in revenue until they have found product market first, a valid business model, and replicable revenue generation strategies. Once those criteria are met, the new business is no longer a startup and instead moves to the scaling phase.”
Scott W. Johnson, the owner of WholeVsTermLifeInsurance.com, has a very practical answer to the question “what is a startup?”
“A startup is a newish company that is the early stages of branding, sales, and hiring,” Scott says.
“Startups often require employees to do many different job functions, with less robust tools, no name recognition, little to no income, sometimes with little planning, often under impossible circumstances.”
“Success” is often subjective — one founder may see it as raising a round, while another might see it as feeling fulfilled at work. But Sarnen Steinbarth, Founder and CEO TurboTenant, thinks that not being successful yet is key to the definition of a startup.
“Startup implies a phase of the company where success is not yet determined,” Sarnen says.
“For example, Airbnb was a startup with fast-growing, aspirational goals. They are no longer a startup because they are past the phase of ambiguous success.”
Most everyone agrees that one absolutely essential part of a startup is the team. For Chris Kane, Co-Founder and CEO of Chek, that team really defines what a startup is.
“A startup is the largest group of rebels, rule-breakers, and unconventional thinkers that you can find, convince and inspire to create breakthrough change in the world,” Chris says.
“These select people are in truth, as Steve Jobs put it, ‘the crazy ones.’ They view the world from a different angle and aren’t afraid to fail. They disregard ‘what is’ for ‘what could be’ and risk their livelihoods to achieve that goal, no matter the odds.”
A feeling in the pit of your stomach. Is it fear? Is it excitement? Yup — it’s a startup.
“Metaphorically speaking, a startup is that moment of hesitation you feel before facing your biggest challenge,” social media influencer, business advisor and Co-Founder and CEO of Bell + Ivy, Cynthia Johnson, says.
“Whether it is the pit in your stomach that aches before you ride a rollercoaster or the nerves that flood your body before meeting someone new, say on a first date, a start-up embodies these intense emotions of fear, nervousness and uncertainty.
A startup may also be the frustration one feels after they go on the rollercoaster and meet that person and think, ‘Hey that wasn’t so bad.’
“At the same time, a startup is also the joy a student feels walking into their first day of class, relaxed and rejuvenated from a long, exciting summer, ready to share their summer memories with their friends,” Cynthia continues.
“These mix of emotions is exactly what embodies a startup and the unpredictability and loss of stability entrepreneurs temporarily face.
But above all, a startup is a process in which all the above emotions create the overarching journey for them to eventually be recognized as a successful company.”
For Stacy Caprio, Founder of Accelerated Growth Marketing, the definition of a startup is clear — and it’s tied to numbers.
“A startup is a company with under 100 employees that is not yet publicly traded,” Stays says.
“A startup is not a company with a large bureaucracy, it is not a company with over 100 employees, and it is not a company without a strong culture and tight-knit community.”
Alex Winston, Founder and Managing Director of PPC Protect, agrees that startups have a low number of employees, but he pegs it even lower than Stacy does.
“To me, a startup is a company that is innovative and solves a unique problem people have — so no corner shops or generic restaurants!,” Alex says.
“It’s also less than two years old, has a turnover of under $250,000/year and less than 10 employees. Anything bigger than that and you’re starting to enter the small business / SBE arena.”
On the more philosophical side of things, Alexandra Isenegger, Founder and CEO of Linkilaw, believes that the definition of startup can be found in the goals of the people working for it.
“A startup is an organization where individuals are working together towards a common goal, and that goal is usually highly innovative in nature,” Alexandra says.
“A startup is not a place where people work out of beanbags, a startup is not a place where everyone dresses the same, a startup is not a place where people use buzzwords like ‘blockchain’ or ‘AI’ without really knowing what they mean. Or at least, most startups are not like that – but you’ve gotta have a few to build up that reputation.”
In figuring out the definition of a startup, there’s a lot of talk about what a startup isn’t. That’s because there are so many stereotypes about startups, most of them promoting the idea that they’re just a place for lazy millennials to spend other people’s money while they play foosball games. Jacob Fenuccio, Founder and CEO of Fractal Solutions LLC, thinks that’s a garbage view.
“A startup is a young, ambitious, growing collection of people with momentum around an idea or innovation,” Jacob says.
“A startup is not fully formed or complete but still vigorously pursues greatness through a lean and adaptive endeavor. Startups are heavily defined by their actions and execution, not just their ideas.
A startup is not any company with a ping pong table, cool office decor, employee outings, loose regulations, and/or casual behavior. A startup is about actionable innovations around ideas.”
For Dary Merckens, CTO of Gunner Technology, a startup is a company that hasn’t yet reached critical mass.
“Frankly, a startup is any new business that hasn’t reached critical mass yet run by one or more individuals whose primary work-related goal is the growth of that company,” Dary says.
“Those are the two critical factors to me:
1.) the user base isn’t large enough yet that the product can be considered a proven concept and
2.) it has a dedicated team (which could be a team of one) whose primary focus is the development of the product.
At some point, the idea either takes off and it moves from startup to proven concept (a la Facebook growing to a million users) or the team deprioritizes focus on the idea and it moves from startup to side project (a la countless ideas that have flamed out).”
Attached to a larger company? Then you’re not a startup, according to this startup definition from David Stephenson, Founder of Grafted Clothing.
“A startup is a venture into business,” David says.
“It is a completely independent company with no ties to already established businesses. Therefore funding is a major hurdle with crowdfunding platforms being a popular method of acquisition. Otherwise angel investors or years of saving (in my case) are options.”
Another popular definition of startup comes from Steve Blank, who shares expert advice and says a startup is “an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.”
Steve Benson, Founder and CEO of Badger Maps, uses that definition to guide his own startup definition.
“A startup to me is when a person or group of people are trying to figure out an idea and then executing that idea with the goal of becoming a sustainable business model,” Steve says.
“Having a sustainable business means you are making more money than the business takes to run. You are not a startup anymore once you have a sustainable business, and your job then becomes to improve your key metrics over time, like revenue and profitability.”
We love to talk about “disruption” in the startup world, but before that became buzzy (and subsequently cliche), there was another word that people were already using: change.
“A startup is the conscious decision to form a group of people with the sole purpose of bringing about change in the real world,” Ross Palmer, head of digital marketing for Lab Society, says.
“This change means creating a money-making, value-adding asset where there was none before. The idea is to enrich not only the people committed to the vision, but the world at large in the process!”
“When you are putting your ideas out into the world — getting feedback from potential customers — you have a startup,” Jeff Hittner, Founder of Your Project X says.
“The hours you put in do not define a startup. Whether or not you are making revenue does not define if you are a startup. In fact, a founder may feel they have a startup and their customers may beg to differ.
It doesn’t matter. What’s important is that the founder is prototyping a concept — taking action in the world – and that people are responding to it.”
As you can see, the definition of a startup is broad. It covers philosophical distinctions, technical ones — even some hard and fast numbers. But while there are a lot of factors that go into the definition of a startup, we’re going to leave you with this one from Ryan Rutan, Startups.com’s Chief Innovation Officer.
“A startup is a company that is trying to do something new or novel,” Ryan says.
“It doesn’t have to be tech. A ‘small business’ is a company that follows a well prescribed model. Therefore, an accounting consultancy is a small business.
But an accounting consultancy marketplace to answer questions via phone for accountants with down time? That’s a startup.”
Some final thoughts (in case you haven’t had enough yet) — Successful entrepreneurs run startup companies (or early stage companies) in the business world that see rapid growth due to a solid business plan and a business strategy that is executed brilliantly. It sounds simple enough, but it isn’t always that easy. Even if a business plan is perfect, that doesn’t guarantee the success of a startup. Without proper startup funding (whether by the founding team or venture capitalists) and a startup ecosystem built to take on every obstacle, not even the trendiest startup culture can hold the business together (and in many cases, even those things aren’t enough). It takes endless amounts of tenacity and persistence to create successful entrepreneurs who can bring a business idea to fruition.
source : startups _ techcrunch
Parsaland Trading Company with many activities in the fields of import and export, investment consulting, blockchain consulting, information technology and building construction
