When Is A Start Up No Longer A Start Up?

In recent years the world has become infatuated with everything ‘startup’. The glamour, appeal and trends of creating, or being part of, something new that has exciting prospects and levels of seemingly limitless success has lured people in and millions of businesses have popped up around the globe as a result. Very often, however, the term is thrown around and we hear it everywhere, but what does it actually mean to be a startup, what defines the term and when does a business fall out of this category and loose its ‘startup’ status?

The buzz around the startup culture has been increasing throughout industries over the years, the boom in technology has helped and industry giants such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, brought with them realisation of the potential funding, user growth, and exits/ IPO’s that make the idea of a startup business so popular. The hard work and dedication required to get an idea off the ground and into a viable business is ten fold to that which a lot of people imagine. It takes passion and drive to make this happen, but once up and running can be hugely rewarding. The glamour of the ‘startup’ phenomenon is often widely covered in the media and although some of the aspects are true, the rewards high when success from hard work is achieved, many businesses still pitch themselves as startups, long after their initial establishment.

So is it just the age since launch that defines the start up status or should other aspects be considered, such as number of employees, the stage of the product or level of funding? It has been discussed many times how the likes of Facebook (13 years), Twitter (10 years), Uber (7 years) are no longer in their youth and therefore do not necessarily fit into the dictionary definition (Start-up: A newly established business [Oxford Dictionaries]). Looking at the wider picture, however, to see the exponential growth and rate at which they continue to develop within a relatively short space of time, perhaps they do still qualify for this status and that in the grand scheme of things to come, these companies are still relatively in their infancy. There is an agreed consensus that until a company has established a product and defined a market fit, to which it is then able to grow and scale, it remains a startup. It is difficult to overtly measure levels of financial success, company size, number of shareholders between companies as each has its own objectives and will be destined to grow and expand at its own rate, not necessarily directly comparable to that of others.  

In the grand scheme of things, there is no hard and fast rule about what defines a startup and often it will be slightly subjective to the describer, dependent on so many aspects. There are, however, a set of acknowledged tendencies that help guide an understanding of what it really means. A rate of growth and level of establishment that is relative to competitors, or sets a new level for competing companies. As long as a company is providing its customers with level of service that is promised, then we can all continue watching these emerging businesses develop and thrive and keep discussing the subjective definition of a startup!