What (really) is a #startup?

I just read this article in Forbes, who (for me) tend to underwhelm with their editorial, and this feature is no different. It's all about what a startup is. To be fair to the writers, you can't cover everything, and it does depend on your audience. So if you are building a startup, or know someone who is, yes you must read everything, learn everything, ask everyone - it's all useful. But if you did come across this Forbes article, here's a mini suggested appendix:

- Unique much? Startups rarely launch something that is unique. The greatest revolutions have actually arguably been (r)evolutions. The iPhone possibly being the most famous with Facebook and Google the most ubiquitous (Google was the 13th major search engine launched). You do NOT need to literally reinvent the wheel to have an enormously successful startup.

- What's an MVP? A Minimum Viable Product nowadays is actually an MV(P)P - The extra P for Premium as you can't launch what you could get away with 5 years ago, or 5yrs before that. It now has to be awesome out of the box. Not everything for everyone awesome, but 'for starters' awesome - I call it the Cute Effect. If a user picks it up and says "oh that's cute" - you're onto something.

- Scale or Growth? Not all startups need to scale, some will happily just grow, and that's ok if that's what you want. It's a founder's choice, and you're still a valid startup. All you need is to know is the difference.

- Raising? Not all startups bootstrap, some raise off the back of a napkin. Others never raise. Make a super conscious choice about how you want to grow. If you can avoid people like me, maybe you should.

- Am I still a Startup? Some startups are older than established businesses. Know the line between startup and operational modes. Startup being kick, b***ock and scramble to find product-market fit, with operational being a tweak of the dials on a proven profitable model.

- Startups fail Yes they do, and the real figure is more likely around 97%. Buckle up.

- Unicorn poop You don't need to go public to have an exit. Most exits are trade sales. Which can be very healthy thank you very much. Forget Unicorns, Dragons are the reality. With real and meaningful business models that don't push zero profit businesses into public markets. Such. Dangerous. Nonsense.

- Can anyone invest? Startup investing is absolutely available to all. I am not sure what the author was meaning with this point. If you have disposable income you can invest. It's that simple. Through a fund, as an angel directly, through a crowdfunding site, all of the above and more. It's absolutely accessible, becoming even more so, even with modest amounts. (I can't believe US laws are more restrictive than ours in the UK).

- Positioning - The Big Cahuna! The biggest grind of my gears reading this article was the lack of insight around the most important focus for a startup - that being how you clearly position yourself to take your place in the world. It's everything - and in simple terms is simply offering something better than the incumbents that a market needs and wants. To unpack it a bit - As with any business in the world, you can only be cheaper, better, different or new and they're obviously inter-connected, especially on the web. So you must pick a position using one or a very clear and clean blend - then focus on 1 or 2 ideal customer profiles while building your moat. PS The cheaper position should not be the focus. Never take a position on price unless your Lidl.

Ultimately, have fun and...

Fish where the fish are, or build your own fish tank.