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by steve1977 1137 days ago
It’s still a startup if it’s not profitable yet ;)
1 comments

I built a business that did $80m of (profitable) revenue, in the first year. We were profitable after 3 months. Is that not a startup?
¬A (not profitable) => B (startup)

does not imply

A (profitable) => ¬B (not a startup).

So bed bath and beyond is a startup?
Just because

> ¬A (not profitable) => B (startup)

> does not imply

> A (profitable) => ¬B (not a startup)

does not imply that ¬A => B. In other words, the logical structure can be correct, but that does not mean the premises are themselves true. This is the difference between validity and soundness in formal logic [0].

[0] https://iep.utm.edu/val-snd/

Math checks out. :D
Your company was new. But the situation you describe is not typical of a startup as commonly understood.
That's because most people do startups that are destined to fail. I've done plenty of those myself! The problem is that we think we can get away with building solutions looking for products. While a few of those do well, in general, that is a recipe for failure.

In other words, our success was because we identified a critical missing piece in a profitable industry and built exactly what people were asking for, and more importantly, willing to pay for.

After that success (and a couple more after it), I refuse to ever build something without finding customers first. You have to build products people want, not try to convince people into believing they want your product.