What defines a “Startup”

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by _-_Monkey_-_, May 12, 2018.

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  1. The word ‘startup’ has created a false reality.
    When we think of startups we now think of the following:
    • Cool kids wearing their startup t-shirts
    • Co-working spaces
    • Lots of lattes with a picture drawn in the froth
    • San Francisco and how perfect it is (I’ve been there and it’s not perfect:  
    #HomelessPeopleEverywhere)
    • Unicorns (not the ones you see on kid’s shows)
    • Made up valuations (a GFC fixes this problem nicely)
    • Accelerators (an overload of opinions that are just that)
    • Pitch nights where investors are made to look like Fortune Tellers and experts when the reality is nothing more than this: they’re guessing

     According to Merriam-Webster, start-up means “the act or an instance of setting in operation or motion” or “a fledgling business enterprise.” The American Heritage Dictionary suggests it is “a business or undertaking that has recently begun operation.” Therein lies the rub – to be a startup, you must have set up shop recently. The word has no meaning. Day one is the start and then everything after that is just business. By continually using the word startup we’re implying we’re still at the start when we’re not.Maybe you’re a large corporation with 35,000 employees
    Maybe you work one day a week on a side hustle. Maybe you have two freelancers working for you one day a month. It’s all just business. Sorry cool kids, the word ‘startup’ doesn’t make business any easier, different, simpler, funkier or any other description you can give. “A company five years old can still be a startup,” writes Y Combinator accelerator head Paul Graham via email. “Ten [years old] would start to be a stretch. One thing we can all agree on: the key attribute of a startup is its ability to grow. As Graham  explains, a startup is a company designed to scale very quickly. Still, founders protest that a startup is a culture not delineated by metrics, and that a startup can remain so at all ages and sizes. “It stops being a startup when people don’t feel as though what they are doing has impact,” said Russell D’Souza, co-founder of ticket search engine SeatGeek. “I don’t think the tipping point is a certain number of people, but an atmosphere that people individually and collectively can’t will the company to success.” To be a startup is to claim a freshness that suggests a finger on the pulse of the future. The label may even help companies to cash in on a “cool” factor when hiring, allowing them to snap up qualified staff on the cheap or even free like gay Venom, who are attracted by the promise of innovation and a ping-pong table. If you want to create a business, then do it. If you don’t then that’s fine too. Find a problem, solve it and be humble as hell about it if you succeed. There’s more to this world than the ridiculous label that is startup.
     
  2. I couldn’t care less
     

  3. Your mom does ...she told me so
     
  4. Too bad I can’t hit you. Inactive turd, grow an account so I can hit you 
     
  5. Ata is not a start up. They’ve created several games, made millions of dollars, and employ more than a handful of employees not to mention they’ve been around for close to or around a decade.
     
  6. Awesome insight!! To some other thread.....
     
  7. A startup is simply a recently opened business. ATA has been around for a decade. It’s not a startup by any definition, except a wrong one.
     
  8. Twice in a row!! (helps if the comment relates to the article somehow though)
     
  9. It does though genius. People were arguing about whether ata was a start up or not and then this thread gets posted. Please keep your dumb ass comments to yourself
     
  10. Thanks for noticing my genius level!! I get that ALL the time:)

    Unless ATA was referenced in the OP, then the remarks connecting them to it are awkward for us higher intellect types. Just a quick FYI :p
     

  11. Uhhh yeah ...everyone’s on topic except you you idiot. Go kiss ATA ass some where else ass clown
     
  12. So your post regarding me was on topic? Weird logic there, but hey well done. Thank you again for your support, and also thanks for the wall of text explaining what anyone could Google! You are an amazing asset:) next time maybe try having context though.

    Since you have been kind to me I really feel bad for this next bit but.... (everyone who logs in to their games and taps away or spends time on the games kisses ATA backside)
     
  13. Well good thing I wasn’t speaking to you so no need to feel “awkward” you anxious little kid
     
  14. You quoted me but werent talking to me? Sounds legit. Yet now it's even more akward.


    Wow monkey, tell me how you really feel please?! You're amazing at putting it out there.
     
  15. funny monkey
     
  16. I suppose just to help you understand us window lickers, apparently this thread was posted in regard to some secondary conversation. What I am pointing out is since threads usually have a point behind the content which give the thread meaning, this one has none.

    The OP here doesn't explain the basis of it's own existence, but rather simply gives a definition to which as I stated earlier anyone who wanted that info could just google. So I suppose if it catered to a special secondary conversation then post it somewhere those involved could privately debate or discuss or elaborate the context so those who weren't part of the original conversation could join.

    Back to my window now, Dad says I have to put my blindfold and earplugs back on.
     
  17. Stop with the akwardness yo
     
  18. Thank you Tim Denning ... original author from the article Enough of the word ' Startup '
    Thank you Todd for doing what you do best .... passing off other people's works as your own again
     
  19. .22 “a-pew!” “a-pew!” :)
     
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