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?

[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.

[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...

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.