When does a company stop being a startup? Probably sometime before it reaches a market value of $172 billion, and more than 150,000 employees.
That might be the popular opinion, but as followers of Amazon know, it’s “Still Day One” in the minds of the company’s leaders. And that mindset led to a funny exchange at a panel this weekend involving Amazon tech chief Werner Vogels at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.
Business Insider reports on the exchange between Vogels and Livefyre CEO Jordan Kretchmer …
“How much time do you spent time on hiring?” Vogels asked. “At Amazon, of course, we’re a 20 year-old startup by now —”
“Uh… startup?” Kretchmer interrupted.
The crowd burst into laughter. Vogels stuck with his description:
“Ehh, startup,” he said over the crowd, “We’re still a startup!
“Awww, that’s really cute,” Kretchmer fired back in a faux-sweet voice.
Vogels paused as the crowd and the panel participants continued to giggle.
“Mmmhh, that threw me off guard a bit,” he said finally, shaking his head.
Kretchmer wasn’t done:
“Yeah,” he said with a laugh, “There’s a new class of startup called ‘IPO’d and Worth Billions.'”
“It’s not just about the size!” Vogel’s protested. “It’s.. whatever. Moving on.”
Given Amazon’s continued focus on growth over profits, the startup definition actually might fit. Hey, it’s the long view, right? If you’re building a company to be around for a century or more, the first couple decades are just the beginning.
