Collection: What's a startup?

A startup is a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.

— Eric Ries in Startup Lessons Learned

A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some sort of “exit.” The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth.

— Paul Graham in Growth

A startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model

— Steve Blank in What’s A Startup? First Principles.