A lot of people on HN would probably go with the Paul Graham definition: "A startup is a company designed to grow fast"

http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html

I've always liked Steve Blanks definition: "a startup is a temporary organization used to search for a repeatable and scalable business model"

https://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-prin...

That's what PG wants a startup to be because it's self serving. He isn't going to get rich off of people bootstrapping lifestyle startups.

So true. I think a startup should be what it literally denotes. A new business.

Then we wouldn't need the word "startup" at all. But since people intuitively see a difference between opening up a deli and starting a social network, I think the word has a use.

I think people associcate startups with technology, high risk (compared to a proven business model that has worked a thousand times for other people), and potential for fast growth (with regards to the investment).

I don't think that excludes lifestyle-ventures.

A new business that isn't limited by local only distribution.

I think that's a post appstore or post web definition. I'm all for unsexy startups if they can turn the entire city into a customer and yet not be relevant outside of the city

I think we can all agree it's not the process of building an app.

I have to think "has external funding" is a minimum.

Why? GH already had 1M repositories when it raised its first round, were they not a startup before?

No, they were a small company.