A startup company is a company recently formed, usually until IPO or acquisition.

Another, more correct and increasingly prevalent definition differentiates a startup from a regular business in terms of the risk/potential success/scalability of each. Whereas a business is usually medium risk and medium return on investment, startups usually have lower bootstrapping costs, higher risk, and higher return on investment. Another significant characteristic of a startup is that it is usually much more scalable than a business.

For example a new restaurant would be a regular business, a technology company started with minimal costs by two guys that can have 10 million new customers if they just plug in a few more servers would be considered a startup.

Venture capital firms and angel investors help startup companies get off the ground, exchanging cash for an equity stake. Realistically though, many prospective startup founders are forced to simply rack up credit card debt.

See also

• Entrepreneurship
• Business plan
• Venture capital
• IPO
• Exit strategy
• Silicon Valley
• Stock market bubble
• Liquidity event

External Links

• How to start a company? (A complete guide!) - Good in-depth article.
• Masses of information on business startup

Entrepreneurship | Private equity | Dot-com

Existenzgründung | Startup | חברת הזנק | Startup-yritys