(original source — https://www.flickr.com/photos/brajeshwar/8946784950)
What is a startup anyway?
A startup is a newly organized company, which is designed to search for repeatable and scalable business model. Actually, this is only one definition of what is a startup. Surfing on the internet, one can find many other definitions. But there’s no fixed definition as it is a considerably new term.
Let’s open up the definition written above. “A newly organized company” — that is, if something has been running over past 10 years it certainly can’t be named a startup. By saying “repeatable” we mean, something that is working not only today but also will work next day, next month etc. This means, that a startup introduces a product or service which is something new yet is helpful.And by saying “scalable” we mean something that can be scaled, something that will cover up the revenues.
Usually, startups offer a service/ product that is currently not being offered elsewhere in the market or is not widespread that much. At their early stages, expenses of a startup might even exceed their revenues. Many times, as a startup works on developing and testing their product, they are being sponsored by somebody else, some other company, or by a loan taken from a bank.
Another definition of a startup was given by Eric Ries “ A startup is a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty”. He makes an accent on the word “human”, explaining it’s usage here by the fact that many startups and companies forget who they are working for, and rather put the accent on their product/service.
Another important feature of a startup is that it is temporary. It is not always going to stay on the same level and be called a startup. Obviously, it’ll either grow into a company/ business or it’ll fail. But actually, many surveys show that most startups grow into larger companies and work better than small business.
Then what is a small business?
A small business is a privately owned and operated business, which typically has a small number of employees. How much is exactly ‘a small number’? Well, this depends on the business itself and the country. Type of business is important in this case, as some type of it requires more ‘helping hands’ than others. Also, the smallness of a business varies from country to country. For example in US small business stuff may include 500 people.
What is Entrepreneurship? Or who is an entrepreneur?
Basically, an entrepreneur is someone, who comes up with a business idea. And it’s not only about haveing a good business idea. He/she also plans what they are going to sell, who are going to be their customers, how are they going to introduce their product to their customers, how are they going to advertise their product and so on. In other words, we can say that an entrepreneur is some who creates a business, whether it is a small business or not.
So what is the main difference between a startup and a small business?
The main and probably most important difference is that a small business concentrates rather on the profit and the main aim of a startup is to work ou their new idea well. That’s why in most cases startups are funded by some other, bigger company and are rather experimental.Another difference between them is that small businesses provide more traditional products/services. A startup is something new, modern and maybe even unknown.Small businesses can run for many years. They might grow into something bigger, but in most cases, a small business stays as it is. While startups, as was already mentioned, are temporary projects, which in some time either will grow into a business or will end up being failure.