What is a Startup.
February 15th, 2008 | Start-up Help
Recently the High Definition Mojo cable channel began airing a series called “Startup Junkies.” The show chronicles the development of a company called Earth Class Mail based in Portland/Seattle. The company has raised more than $16 million in funding and has (by appearances) around 50 employees including a full engineering department, a staffed marketing and sales department, an experienced CEO, a Board of Directors and, importantly, an existing revenue stream (they had a veteran CFO at the time the episodes were recorded in September 2007, but no CFO position is currently listed on their website… I guess we’ll have to stay tuned to find out what happened.)
We encourage everyone to find out more about Earth Class Mail and their innovative approach to delivering paper mail electronically. However, this post is less about them, than it is about the definition of a start up venture.
For most of us the start up scenario is much different. It usually starts with one person with an idea and no money. A more typical story is similar to Tito’s Handmade Vodka which I posted about here. Compared to Tito’s, Earth Class Mail doesn’t look much like a startup at all.
For us, startups are characterized by one or two people with an idea, little or no money, little or no organization, “employees,” if any, who are working on deferred salaries, and, if it exists at all, a highly questionable revenue stream.
If you have departments of people, a semblance of a Board of Directors, other people’s money in the bank and a 5 year office lease – sorry, in our books, you are not a Startup anymore.
The Startups that we help at TheStartCompany.com, are very very early stage businesses – even before they are businesses. We help the people with the ideas turn their dreams into reality.
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