What is a startup?

I had been looking for an answer to this question for a long time. What is a startup? How would you know if a company is a startup?

Earlier I used to think it had something to do with how young the company was.

Then, I used to think it had to do with the number of people in the company. Or the amount of money the company was making.

Later still, I used to think it had to do with the structure (or the lack of it) within the company.

None of these definitions really made sense. But I didn’t find a better one. Until now.

I recently discovered a definition that seems to make the most sense:

A startup is a team that’s working towards a shared dream. A dream of a tomorrow which looks very different from today.

By this definition, startups could be large companies or small. Startups could be making a lot of money, or none at all. None of this matters really.

All that matters is they have a dream and are working towards it. Dreams come of all shapes and sizes — there are big dreams and small, but each one is about creating a new tomorrow which looks very different from today.

So, what’s the dream you are working towards?