What a Startup is Not
However, it can be all of the above and still be a startup!
So what exactly is a startup?
First, it is important to know the difference between a job and a business.
In a typical job, economic returns depend on the time spent at work. In a business, however, it is possible to break out of this proportionality.
Now, what is a startup?
A traditional business can take decades to grow into a large enterprise. Startups attempt to grow rapidly and attain huge valuations.
"A startup is a company designed to grow fast" - Paul Graham
How do startups achieve exponential growth?
The market is hungry for certain products (or services). Products that are not available in the market. Yet. A startup that can successfully bring these products to the market will achieve exponential growth.
How do startups discover a product that the market is hungry for?
"That, detective, is the right question!" - Dr. Alfred Lanning, in "I, Robot".
The primary job of a startup founder is to find "Product - Market Fit" (PMF). If the founders figure out that the plan does not work, they "pivot" and change direction and attempt to reach PMF.
Here is a nice essay if you want to know more about startups- https://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html
Mechanical Engineer | Product Designer | Video Editor
1 年My doubts regarding start-ups was already clarified by your session in TKM. My sincere gratitude for that enlightening session.
Junior at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
1 年While this post attempts to define what a startup is, it fails to recognize the impact of organizational culture on the success of a startup. Rapid growth and huge valuations may be important, but an unhealthy workplace culture can undermine long-term success. Startups need to prioritize cultivating a positive and sustainable culture alongside achieving exponential growth.?
Using AI to evolve Project & Program management.
1 年Rejin Narayanan Nice article - Crisp & to the point. Thanks for sharing. I think the Paul Graham quote is the key: "A startup is a company designed to grow fast". However, I would like to propose a minor change: A Startup is a company that is aiming to grow fast. So why replace "designed" with "aiming"? Because of the typical Startup success rate metric - that 90%of startups fail. So my take is: The "designed" verb is optimistic, as most Founders are, and the reality is that many Founders have aims, not truly solid designs. Many Founders approach their Startup ideas from one direction - Technology, Product, Business, etc - Because that's what they are good at. Even when there is a Founding team, the team is comprised of like-minded people - College friends, Colleagues, etc - Which means that the diversity of skills & experience in a Founding team is typically difficult to achieve. The Startup "Design" has to necessarily include this basic aspect if it is really aiming to survive, grow & scale.