So "startup" now means "company" and "early-stage startup" means "startup". I look forward to having to call them "incipient early-stage startup".

I guess startup is generally understood now to mean a VC-backed company that doesn't make any money.

I think it’s more about the nature of growth potential. Hyper growth with a hockey stick is the measure.

Often, a "startup" just means a private company that plans to go public but hasn't done so yet (as opposed to already public companies, and private companies that don't plan on going public)

No, that sounds like a private company trying to sound trendy.

A startup has a small number of employees to start with and a 2 - 3 year window to go big, fizzle out, or pivot into a small - medium sized business. You're not a "startup" forever, nor does eventually marketing yourself as one, actually make you one.

I don't think so, because a whole lot of startups plan to get bought, not go public.

Airbnb claims to make money.

Start up has come to mean a company attempting hyper growth as opposed to a traditional business like a mechanic or brewery.

But what about companies that achieved that hyper growth (Google, Airbnb, etc). Are they still startups? How would you view this dialogue?

"I'm working at a startup".

"Oh? Where?"

"Google."

I mean, sure, but the fact that the objection is old doesn't mean it's wrong. While I wouldn't say there's a clear cutoff point in terms of time or employees between "startup" and "not a startup," there's got to be some point at which we say "company X was a startup, but really isn't one now." Google was a startup, but we wouldn't call it one now any more than we'd call Apple a startup, right? How about Facebook? They're younger, they pushed that whole "move fast and break things" schtick. But with a billion users and worldwide offices and an actual corporate campus, I'm gonna say "no, not anymore," aren't you?

So I think it's fair to ask whether Airbnb, a profitable company with 12,000 employees and annual revenues of $3B+ for the last few years, can really be called a "startup" now. They were a startup. But now? Eh...

This just sounds like marketing spin. It's hip to be a "startup" because that conjures up the idea that the company possesses certain advantages over larger organizations, even if it doesn't anymore.

>>Another thing that's almost a decade old is your objection. The term "startup" has come to have a broad meaning. The meaning of words changes over time.

They use the word "startup" when it serves their interests. Yet, we don't call 10 year olds babies. Too bad

Companies are called start ups by people old enough to clearly remember when they really were just a start up, and haven't internalized just how long ago that really was.

The definition is now so broad as to become meaningless.

The definition hasn't changed. There's a lot of misuse and abuse for marketing purposes.