If you’re building something from scratch—with questions, not guarantees—you’re already in the world of startups.
Someone asked me recently, “What’s a startup?” I paused. Then I gave the usual answer for what startups are.
A fast-growing tech company, probably VC-backed, aiming to scale and maybe exit.
It came out too easy.
And honestly? It felt wrong.
Because that answer? It leaves a lot of people out.
The “startups” version we’ve all been sold
We’ve built this image over time.
Startups as the domain of Silicon Valley. Big rounds. Big exits. Founders in hoodies. Growth curves that shoot up and to the right.
That’s one kind of startup, sure. But it’s not the only one.
And the more I sat with it, the more I realized that definition misses the messy, scrappy, creative stuff—the kind I actually care about.
Because not every founder has a pitch deck.
Not every founder is building with code.
Some are making physical things. Some are doing solo services. Some are just trying to make rent while getting something off the ground.
And guess what?
They’re all starting something. That counts.
Some folks define startups strictly.
Steve Blank calls a startup “a temporary organization in search of a scalable, repeatable business model.”
Useful. Precise. But kind of cold, if I’m honest.
Eric Ries says it’s “a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.”
Better. More human. Still, kind of textbook.
Then you have the common view:
If it’s not fast, if it’s not tech, if it’s not scalable—it’s not a startup.
That’s the one I push back on.
Because if we stick to that, we ignore a whole wave of real builders.
People who are learning in public.
Bootstrapping from scratch.
Testing offers. Launching small. Starting again.
And again.
Here’s how I think about it now
A startup is a business still becoming.
It hasn’t locked into its final form. It’s still figuring things out—market, message, model, maybe even its purpose.
Sometimes it’s messy. Often it’s quiet.
It might be funded, or it might be running on savings and belief.
It might scale fast. Or stay intentionally small.
But what makes it a startup isn’t the speed.
It’s the search.
Why this actually matters
Because language shapes how we show up.
If the only people we call “startup founders” are the ones raising millions, everyone else feels like they’re playing small. Like they’re doing it wrong.
And they’re not.
The person selling digital products from their laptop in a one-bedroom flat?
The person building a niche tool for a tiny audience—carefully, steadily?
The person restarting their creative business for the third time after life happened?
Startup founders. All of them.
If you’re building from scratch—uncertain, imperfect, but still moving—then yeah. You’re in the world of startups.
You don’t need permission. Or funding. Or a hockey stick graph.
Just the guts to try.
Because the real startup energy?
It’s not about scale.
It’s about starting anyway.
Need help navigating the messy middle?
I work with early-stage founders to pressure-test ideas, sharpen plans, and stay grounded while building.
If your startup’s still becoming—Get in touch.