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It's nice to see coverage of an exciting trend (of which I'm happy to be a part), but it always cracks me up when financial publications classify companies based on sales rather than profits. Defining a "million dollar company" as a company with a million dollars in annual sales is absurd.

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This. If your company clears one million in yearly sales and spends $980,000 to make that happen--you are running a $20,000 per year company. There is nothing wrong with this, but I hate when these metrics get thrown around without context. There are $1M companies that make less profit than a hot dog cart (which subsequently, in the right location is a damn good business).

On the other hand, low-margin businesses are often low-risk, stable businesses. A grocery store has crappy margins, but excellent stability.

This is unlikely which is why $!M companies are significant because most likely their margins aren't that low.

my guess is they don't know the profit reliably?

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