[ooutpa]

Oh come on. Just because Paul wrote something does not suddenly make it fact.

The word 'startup' is at least a few hundreds years old, most likely from the word 'upstart' - the action of starting up.

Startup as defined in the Merriam Webster dictionary: A fledgling business enterprise.

Startup as defined in the Oxford dictionary: A newly established business.

[unimpressive]

We're talking about startups in the Silicon Valley Business vernacular, which has some strange definitions for common words. (See: Disrupt)

[mindcrime]

We're talking about startups in the Silicon Valley Business vernacular,

Are we? I'm not in Silicon Valley, and what happens there is of little consequence to me. I, for one, only care what startup means in my vernacular.

For what it's worth, I consider a "startup" any business that's intended to grow into a very large business, where the definition of "very large" is somewhat fuzzy. But I don't think you have to have intent to achieve that in any certain period of time, in order to qualify as a startup.

[vacri]

I dare say that your vernacular is not locked to the definitions of words from several centuries ago.