[getgoingnow]

Why is Paul Graham defining a word that's already well defined and understood? Go to Google and type in "define startup" and you will see that:

  startup = a newly established business

I think the reason he wants to redefine the term is so that people associate starting a business with rapid growth, which will benefit him personally. How do you achieve growth in almost all cases? By taking VC money. What happens when you take VC money? Investors expect an exit. So, even though he says you don't need to take venture funding or 'exit', he really wants people to do that, because he can make money from it.

[dang]

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11867810 and marked it off-topic.

[mediascreen]

I think Graham's definition aligns much better with general usage of the word than a definition that would make the new ice cream stand at the corner a startup.

[vertex-four]

Really, only on HN and other "startup forums". Anywhere else... well, do you think even an ice cream stand is immediately a viable, profitable business? Usually not. The space between "having a registered company" and "actually in the black and stable" is a startup.

[mediascreen]

I would still say that, to most people, a startup implies more than just a newly started business. I have never seen or heard someone who has just started a small brick and mortar business (without grandiose expansion plans) refer to it as a startup.

That said, I'm not a native english speaker and I don't live in US - maybe it's more common than I think.

[tedmiston]

You're correct. We'd just call them small businesses.

Though I have seen some small businesses working in technology refer to themselves as startups without really understanding the definition (or because they're trying to sound "sexy" to recruit developers).

[collyw]

You are too old. Its youngster hipster speak for running your own small business these days. I have heard a few friends referring to their business as a startups.

[50CNT]

What about bootstrapped startups? They have to be in the black very quickly, if not from day 1. Do they count as startups?

Really, we've got four different terms we're trying to delineate.

"Exponential growth business" vs. "Incremental growth business".

and

"Unstable business with total expenses exceeding profits" vs. "Stable business with total expenses below profits"

All 4 permutations are valid. I personally like putting the startup vs. small business terms on the first category, which makes for the 4 pairings ["stable startup", "unstable startup", "stable small business", "unstable small business"]. I think this helps prevent the confusion that makes fruit stands think about E rounds.

[sokoloff]

Small nit: you mean to use "income" or "revenue" where you use "profits" above.

[50CNT]

yeah, got a little confused there.

[mark-r]

It seems to me that "startup" has connotations that are missing from the Google definition, and if Paul Graham isn't correct he's a lot closer to it.