What Is a Startup Company, Anyway?

“A startup is a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.”

“A startup is the living embodiment of a founder’s dream,” Wil says. “It represents the journey from concept to reality. It is one of the few times when you can take something that is only a dream and make it a reality, not just for yourself, but for the entire world.”

“To me a startup is any company that has a goal to grow and scale, usually quickly and usually using technology to do so,” Ian Wright, founder of Merchant Machine, tells Startups.com.

“All startups by their very nature will start out being small businesses, but not all small businesses are startups. The difference with startups is that it’s their goal to no longer be a startup at some point in the future, while many small business owners are more than happy for their small businesses to remain small businesses.”

“A startup is a modern version of an inventor. It experiences a problem and then tries to solve it with ingenuity. A successful startup typically wants to solve a problem and make the world a better place.”

“A startup is a company that solves a problem,” Stephanie says. “If your company isn’t solving a problem, your company is simply an idea.”

“In my experience, a startup is a job you cannot quit, that does not pay, and which you cannot live without,” Sacha Nitsetska, Founder and CEO of Mentorforward, tells Startups.com.

“Ideally, it is also an organization that is doing something that has never been done before, and that has the potential to change the world. Growth numbers and the rest are just an output from the above with some good execution, right tactics and great advisors added in just the right amounts.”

“A startup is a company that has more questions about its business model and sustainability than answers,” Xiao says.

“It does not yet know how it will operate at scale, both to its customers and its employees. The focus is on experimentation — continuously testing, iterating, and learning. This is independent of number of employees, revenues, or whether or not it’s publicly traded.”

“A startup is a company that’s searching for product/market fit: trying to identify its ideal customers, which products and services those ideal customers purchase, at what price points, and how frequently they make those purchases,” Joshua says.

“Besides raising capital when needed, startup founders spend a lot of time tracking and trying to improve a handful of core metrics including average customer lifetime value (LTV), cost of customer acquisition (COCA), and average sales cycle length.”

“Technically speaking, a startup is defined as any newly formed and fast-growing company or new business that aims to fulfill the needs or a gap in a relevant marketplace,” Nate says.

“The amazing thing about the term “startup” is that it really has no defined boundaries,” Mark says.

“Sure, certain characteristics come to mind when the word is brought up – millennial, tech, major funding, etc. But in reality, a startup can fall under that umbrella or be very far outside of it.

“For instance, I’m a 70-year-old entrepreneur with a startup in a very traditional industry,” Mark continues.

“I’m not sure there are many boxes that you can lump startups into. Founders come in all ages, from all backgrounds, while companies can still be considered startups for quite awhile after founding with no hard and fast rule as to when you stop being a startup (maybe when you stop innovating?).

I do believe there is a common thread connecting most startups, though: a mission or goal to disrupt, change, or enhance, the traditional mindset of whatever industry they’re in.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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).”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.