Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Seattle 2.0, and imported to GeekWire as part of our acquisition of Seattle 2.0 and its archival content. For more background, see this post.
By Marcelo
Wikipedia defines “startup” as:
“…A startup company is a company with a limited operating history. It may effectively cease to be a startup as it passes various milestones, such as becoming profitable, or becoming publically traded in an IPO …”
That is an ok definition, although I don’t like the part about “becoming profitable” since a some Startups can be profitable very early on.
What else would make a company stop being a startup besides being publically traded? Here is a list that on my opinion would disqualify a company as a Startup (besides going out of business, of course):
- More than 5 years on business;
- IPO;
- Being acquired by a non-Startup;
What else?
