In popular culture every new business is often called a "startup". Yet to me, the key feature defining a startup in the "Silicon Valley sense" is a capital structure optimized for:<p>1. growth of equity value as the primary "payday" for the founders<p>2. receiving investment in exchange for equity based on a similar "payday" for the investors<p>3. non-linear growth of equity value.<p>Technology tends to facilitate this organizational optimization, but it can also facilitate business optimized for the generation of regular cash returns to investors.