[akg]

I think the tech-sector has significantly skewed what it means to be a "startup". But that has mostly to do with that fact that we only hear of the "startups" that are funded by some well-known VC for some large amount of money. Money that is used to build a product and advertise yet have no signs of being profitable in the near future (http://www.color.com/ comes to mind as an example of this). The media paints a pretty rosy picture of what it means to be a startup making it a glamourous venture to be associated with.

There are however plenty of companies that are just starting up, being bootstrapped from the beginning, and are happily putting food on the founders' table, but these are the startups you never hear about.