

Ask HN: What is a startup? - da5e

Okay this might belie the idea that there are no dumb questions, but I can't really define what a startup is. I think to myself that I should start one, perhaps a micro-startup, but I don't have a cohesive idea of what that involves. Do you have any Startups for Dummies explanations?
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niccolop
@robfitz built a really cool startup tool kit: <http://thestartuptoolkit.com/>

I'm pretty sure that if you can complete most of these boxes you'll have found
a startup.

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gojomo
Colloquially, it's any new business. Average folks will think of a new retail
storefront, or new one-man consulting business, as a 'startup' -- and there's
no need to disabuse them of that usage, it's reasonable in that context.

In technology circles, it especially connotes a business with extra reward and
risk, trying something novel.

In the customer-development/lean-startup formalization of positive startup
patterns, Steve Blank defines 'startup' as "an organization formed to search
for a repeatable and scalable business model". See:

[http://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-
princ...](http://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-principles/)

Are you searching for a repeatable and scalable business model? If so, you're
a startup! If you form a partnership or corporation to search with more
collaborators, then that formation, too, would be a startup.

