The concept of start-up (greek newbie) has gone through dozens of definitions and recriminations about its real content.
The good news is that confusion about what to start up is not a Greek phenomenon: It is part of a general confusion that reaches even the US.
In simple terms, we would say that "start-up" is any business activity (the first corporate form of implementing an idea) which has three key features:
- she is young
- It's innovative
- It has rapid growth or prospects of rapid growth
It should be noted that start-ups often resemble piercing stars. "Dies" within the first 12 months of life (it is estimated that only 1 on 12 start-ups are going to be successful companies see source here).
At this point the following question reasonably arises: When we say start-up do we always refer to a small business?
The answer is no. According to Steve Blank there are essentially 4 types of entrepreneurship:
Small businesses that usually receive funding from family, friends, small bank loans, and usually do not maximize their profit. They simply exist and grow while retaining a small turnover
Start-ups with the expectation/target of rapid growth that usually receive high-risk financing from venture capital funds (VC's), wanting to achieve continuous and repeat sales. It is the model we find in Silicon Valley, New York, Israel, Bangalore, Shanghai, i.e. in the cradles of innovative start-up entrepreneurship
Existing / large businesses developing new activities
Social entrepreneurship with usually non-profit character
An old story and the myth of the start-up "garage"
Through the peculiar culture and the history of the start-ups, a misunderstanding has been created: At the start of the word "start-up," the mind of many goes automatically to a group of young geeks who have a garage , develops the super-software, blocked by the outside world, against gods and demons.
But is that the case?
The answer can not be unambiguous and, of course, it is not limited to the above unambiguous "image" we have for start-ups.
In fact, if we go back with an imaginary time machine to the point of birth and cmmovementof the start-up culture, we will understand many things better.
It all started in the USA, specifically after World War II.
Frederick Termann, the rector of the Stanford University School of Engineering, to raise university revenues and create job opportunities for graduates, proposed to rent the university premises and turn it into a science park (the reason for today's Stanford ResearchPark).
Terman, also called "father" of Silicon Valley, also found venture capital to fund technology startups that started private individuals.
Here's the story of the garage: "Under the guidance of Terman, Stanford's graduates, William Hewlett and David Packard, worked in the garage of the latter before moving to Stanford Research Park shortly after 1953.
All the rest is history: Over time, their company, the well-known Hewlett-Packard became the largest producer computers in the world.
The real moment for the explosion of start-ups and the transformation of Silicon Valley as a cradle for their appearance and creation, came with a famous disagreement.
1957, employees of Shockley Semiconductor, break with its founder and co-founder of the first transistor William Shockley and create Fairchild Semiconductor. The company marks a great success, while some of its founders and many of its employees are leaving to create startups in their turn.
Over a period of about twenty years, 1 / 8 of employees of the old Shockley Semiconductor founded 67 business, with the start-ups phenomenon expanding as an avalanche from the famous Silicon Valley (Silicon Valley).
Στην πραγματικότητα όμως, ο όρος “start-up” άρχισε να συζητιέται διεθνώς την περίοδο της λεγόμενης φούσκας dot-com μεταξύ 1997-2000 (dot-com bubble/dot-com boom/Internet bubble/Information Technology Bubble) όπου σημειώθηκε μια ραγδαία ανάπτυξη εταιρειών στον χώρο του Internet (των λεγόμενων dot com companies).
The start-up ... oven
The history of the start-ups, and as discussed above, may consolidate the perception that most of them are active in the field of software / computing.
Despite the undisputed plethora of technological start-ups worldwide, the real subject of a business does not determine whether it is a start-up or not.
The start-up «gene» has to do with the very philosophy of a start-up business.
The example of the oven is typical, as analyzed in a relevant article by Dimitris Tsingos, President of the Hellenic Association of Neo-business Enterprises:
«Ας πούμε ότι ξεκινά κάποιος ένα συνοικιακό αρτοποιείο. Είναι start-up; Μάλλον όχι. Αν όμως ξεκινήσει αυτό το αρτοποιείο παράγοντας ένα εξαιρετικής ποιότητας ψωμί με αγνά, παραδοσιακά υλικά, αν φροντίσει να επικοινωνήσει την ανάπτυξη του προϊόντος αυτού στην αγορά με έναν έξυπνο, αποτελεσματικό τρόπο και αν έχει μελετήσει ένα επιχειρηματικό μοντέλο ώστε σιγά-σιγά από τον ένα φούρνο να κάνει ένα network bakeries with modern means of distribution and promotion of the product, then yes, it is a start-up".
Neophyte is the company that has an innovative stance: o its raison d'être is to offer a solution to a particular problem or a desire of its customers and which aims to develop rapidly and dynamically by creating value for its customers, shareholders and employees.
