What makes a startup a startup? Does it have to be technology-related? If I start a small business selling widgets or a service, are the same elements not involved: some capital injection (from savings or family loans), one/two owners acting as CEO, CFO, CIO, Sales, Marketing, HR, Ops, etc., juggling many things and struggling with the same questions?<p>I am truly curious - what constitutes a startup and how is this different from the thousands of non-tech businesses that are started every day?
A startup is designed to grow rapidly. To do that it has to be a product company rather than a service company.<p><a href="http://paulgraham.com/startupfunding.html" rel="nofollow">http://paulgraham.com/startupfunding.html</a> (search for "physical")
My view: scale/size of market<p>A small business is going to be mainly local/regional.
A car dealership is a small business - might make the owner(s) millions, but still a "small" business.<p>Car manufacturers like the new Tesla Motors are start ups.<p>There's plenty of start-ups that aren't tech based, but tech firms probably lend themselves to scaling thus the majority of them being start-ups.<p>Non tech example:
Stonyfield Farm = start-up
Farms an hour from me = small/medium businesses
Small businesses are typically based on an established business model. Restaurants, bars, retail outlets, etc., count as small businesses.<p>Startups in contrast are an organization in search of a business model. Once it finds one it doubles down on the product search with a viable business model and develops it to profitability.