Once Again, A Startup is Defined As …. : East Coast Blogging
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In my mind, a startup as defined by an entrepreneur is a tech-focused company shooting for rapid growth, with a liquidity event in mind.
On the other hand, a small business is built to operate for a substantial time period (sometimes generational) while providing a steady and reliable stream of income. Business growth is typically a lot slower (often intentionally controlled) but more sure-footed.
A vast portion of the multi-millionaires in this country are small-business owners...
The word "startup" to me distinguishes new independent nationwide business from corporate spinoffs, established niche companies, and regional businesses. It doesn't have any more meaning than that.
You can say startup means "shoot the moon" all you want, but I'm going to keep calling my company a bootstrapped startup.
I tend more towards young companies that are building a hardware product (containing various proportions of hardware and software invention), when I hear "startup" I tend to think more along the lines of a new physical device.
To me, 2 guys collaborating on a project at night is not a "startup" it's an "experiment". And those 2 guys might think my job at a hardware-type company with a couple-dozen-million in VC dollars with an established process is "working for a big corporation". Doesn't really matter though, ultimately I think "Startup" is one of those words like "Pretty" it means something a little different to everyone, but the common denominator is that it tends to also be synonymous with "Good"...
For regular 'joes' like you and I who are struggling to get any funding these are far, far beyond startups and represent success stories.
I would say if these guys had millions in sales coming in - they are becoming success stories.