A startup is a young company built to find and scale a repeatable, high-growth business model under conditions of high uncertainty. It is distinguished from a traditional small business by its pursuit of rapid growth rather than steady-state operation, defined by what it is searching for (a working, scalable model) rather than by its age, size, or industry.
The two most-cited definitions come from the founders of the modern startup playbook. Steve Blank: "A startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model." Paul Graham of Y Combinator: "A startup is a company designed to grow fast." Both definitions point to the same idea, that the defining feature of a startup is the search for and...