The term “Startup” has been around popping up frequently in media for the past few years. Strangely enough, this term is connected with multi-million companies as well as the small businesses you start in your college dorm with one laptop and 3 of your buddies. It does not seem entirely appropriate to put both these type of companies under one umbrella term, you may say!
So, what is a startup?
L-r, Andrew Garfield, Joseph Mazzello, Jesse Eisenberg and Patrick Maple in Columbia Pictures’ “The Social Network.”
Wikipedia – our go to information provider for pretty much everything under the sun – states that “A startup company is an entrepreneurial venture typically describing newly emerged, fast-growing business”.
Let us pay close attention to the key terms. “Newly emerged”, and “fast-growing”. A startup is different from a regular small business in the way they approach the growth and development of a company. “Growth” is a golden word when it comes to startups. We will get to that in detail in a while.
A startup is different in the way they work, how they work, why they work and what they work on. There is a whole culture based on freedom, creativity and innovation behind it. The inception of most startups is tied to a uniquely different concept that gives a solution to an existing problem, or closing a gap in the tech innovations within a community.
To sum up, to be in the category of startups, you need to have your business setup rather recently, and you have to be working hard implementing new ideas in getting your company to reach your goals, not only in good quality, but also fast. Startup is a culture, it is a passion and a steady state of mind.
Let us now dive into the concept of startup culture, which seems to be quite the rage nowadays.
What is Startup Culture?
Inside the Google Dublin Campus
According to what you may have seen and heard around internet, the image that you probably get when hearing the term “startup culture” is some young developers and tech guys sitting on bean bags with their laptops leaned against their knees, laughing and eating some snacks while they work.
Well, that indeed is a pretty cool image about the working environment you get around a startup culture. However, the broader term of “startup culture” has a bigger meaning to it. The culture of a startup has much to do with its identity, and the image that they want to pose to their employees and to the customers. Most of the startup founders come to the business not only for the money aspect of it, but for doing something that makes a difference in the world; money, of course comes later!
Take Google for an example, their culture is greatly connected to offering a rewarding and stress-free environment to their employees. The value of that company relies on the ideas and innovations which come through their employees, and they have made a culture which treats them generously, to which the employees reciprocate by coming up and maintaining great products and services which has made Google a global frontrunner in their industry.
Startup culture is also about making good relationships. There are hardly any distinctive hierarchy levels in startups which divides the management from the rest of the employees. While the titles are there, a startup team works as one entity to reach a similar goal. This could mean that the person in the highest rank doing the sales if that is what needs to get things done.
What do startups do?
Botlink, a Fargo startup that designs drone software and power electronics
As it was mentioned above, startups differentiate themselves from the rest of the businesses in the industry by their unique growth strategies. It does not necessarily have to be related to technology, as long as it is a unique concept which is able to serve a considerable crowd of people. Startups think big, and they hardly play safe. This might be a reason for some startups to fail, but it is also the reason for startups to have groundbreaking success stories.
Startups are driven by their growth strategy.
NeXT founded in 1985 by Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs
From the inception of an idea, there are a few phases a startup goes through. The rate of success for a startup is different from one company to another, with the common factor being they do not wait until success hits, but they actively work for it. Initially, there is a slow or hardly any growth in which the founders and the employees understand the practical goals of the company. As they eventually discovers their goals and work for them, there is usually a period of rapid growth which gets to a slow and steady pace once the company reaches a stable income level.
Let us not forget that startups currently have a 90% failure rate, HOWEVER, the biggest companies you see today have once been startups. If you are a passionate entrepreneur with a never ending enthusiasm to make a difference in the world, hold your valuable idea with pride and build on it to make it perfect and create a startup. If you do have a great idea and the ability to put 200% work to what you want to achieve, then the success of course be inevitable.
