[corin_]

Good question, and I think the answer has to be subjective.

My attempt at an answer: companies that either do things that couldn't be done before they were online because of the nature of the product/service, or where it couldn't be done before because the code has is complex.

So pets.com, really they were doing what shops had been doing for years, they just happened to do it online. Reddit on the other hand, there's not really an offline equivilent. Hipmunk, there's offline equivilents (travel agents) but the tech behind Hipmunk is what makes is a good company, not just "we've moved our travel agency online".

But yeah, no doubt there are YC companies that aren't necceasrily "tech companies", and on the other side there are companies not thought of as tech companies where technology plays a huge, huge role.

[hdctambien]

I think by this definition Groupon is a tech company.

[Retric]

I had a door to door salesmen sell me a papa johns coupon book about 5 years ago. It cost 20$ and it probably saved me 10 times that over the next year. Honestly, I have trouble seeing Groupon as anything other that 'that' + email.

PS: I think people have been doing the same thing from at least the 1950's if not earlier.