hustler
n 1: a prostitute who attracts customers by walking the streets
2: a shrewd or __unscrupulous__ person who knows how to circumvent difficulties
Perhaps repurposing 'hustler' without negative connotations will work, but this is a word with a lot of ugly baggage, and the first thing I thought of when I saw it used in reference to startups: dishonest businessmen.
[Addendum] For completeness, a dip into the modern lexicon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustler_(disambiguation)
Hustler is a monthly pornographic men's magazine
and general brand of Larry Flynt Publications.
Hustler or hustlers also commonly refers to:
- A practitioner of confidence tricks
- Someone who deceives others by hustling, usually in sports
- An American hip hop slang word for a pimp,
drug dealer or male prostitute an aggressively enterprising person; a go-getter
If a locally repurposed word like hustler has a very strong meaning outside your circles, chances are good that when you start talking about hustling in relation to business, a fair number of people are going to think swindler or worse.
It seems that a number of people like to use it as a self-description because it does have negative, edgy traits -- in the same sense of 'ninja'. Unlike 'ninja', however, 'hustler' can easily lie a bit too close to the truth.
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rickross/hustlin.html
I think it's a minor but telling difference of perspective of what we, respectively, do in business.
In this timeless piece, Ross discusses his fortunes in the trans-Atlantic pharmaceutical trade, at one point managing over 100 employees and reaping the fruits of his labor - all the while trying to maintain proprietary knowledge and head-off new entrants.
[Is there really much of a difference other than him being unlicensed to do this?]
A hustler, on the other hand, is exactly what business people must be in a startup. Far from having a well defined role, you must do whatever it takes to make it happen (whatever 'it' may be). Further, a hustler must operate outside the status quo whether they're in a startup or on the streets. While most programmers I know hate the ninja and rockstar labels, I find hustler to be quite endearing.