“Why do we build companies? Why do we innovate? Why do we care about creating new inventions, products, and solutions?”
A lot of people think startups are the cool thing to do so they want to build one. Most of them are being caught up in startup hype because it is seen as something fun. Out of the standard work term, Startup is an accessible way for everyone to create something new. Even, for instance, people make startup because they want to make their own money, and others like to feel independence, or freedom. In reality, there are much easier ways to make money or to feel independent.
Anyone built a startup because of the opportunity with the aim of making money, perhaps it could work because of based on opportunities, but it was very rare for anyone who really want to scratch their own “itch”. You pour tons of blood, sweat and tears into building an exciting product that you think has a shot at changing the world. Most fail, but that doesn’t matter. As an ‘entrepreneur’ we innovate and build companies for a deeper and valuable reason.
Startups are built for one specific problem — the desire to devise solutions and bring ideas to life. Underneath it all, people create because they care about things. They build because they believe in what is possible. Someone who made the real startup because he saw and believed to change something or make things better (improvement).
Startup then and now
Successful startups create something in the right place at the right time; meaning if the product that has been made is awesome, but if it’s not the time to launch, it would be difficult to penetrate into the ecosystem. Most of products that existed will gradually change and corrected by the market and possibly turn into something else. But whatever product that has been produced will be aligned with the expectations of general people at the end.
The funny thing is that people wants to create something new, one out of 10 people is success and 9 of the rest want the “same” thing, ironically not to solve problems, but to want the same financial success. It sounds more like build a business and not a Startup, isn’t it?
The “old” Startup is known as a bootstrap, which means survival alone while try to solve problem. If it failed, they move on and make some improvement. Startup used to be more self-sufficient, not dependent on others, not dependent on investors. Unfortunately, in today’s millennial period, the first thing they think about is finding the investor for raising funds, and not actually build something that people need or solve problems in the community.
Types of startup
According to Silicon Valley Entrepreneur, Steve Blank, there are 6 type of Startups:
Startup 101
Startup needs to have a product and solving problem that is still doesn’t exist in the market with simple elegant solution, or something that already exists on the market and they improve it into something better.
Lifestyle Startups: Work to Live their Passion
Lifestyle entrepreneurs like surfers and divers who own small surf or dive shop or teach surfing and diving lessons to pay the bills so they can surf and dive some more. A lifestyle entrepreneur is living the life they love, works for no one but themselves, while pursuing their personal passion. In Silicon Valley the equivalent is the journeyman coder or web designer who loves the technology, and takes coding and U/I jobs because it’s a passion.
Small Business Startups: Work to Feed the Family
Small businesses are grocery stores, hairdressers, consultants, travel agents, Internet commerce storefronts, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, etc. They are anyone who runs his/her own business.
They work as hard as any Silicon Valley entrepreneur. They hire local employees or family. Most are barely profitable. Small business entrepreneurship is not designed for scale, the owners want to own their own business and “feed the family.”
Scalable Startups: Born to Be Big
Scalable startups are what Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and their venture investors aspire to build. Google, Skype, Facebook, Twitter are just the latest examples. From day one, the founders believe that their vision can change the world. Unlike small business entrepreneurs, their interest is not in earning a living but rather in creating equity in a company that eventually will become publicly traded or acquired, generating a multi-million-dollar payoff.
Scalable startups require risk capital to fund their search for a business model, and they attract investment from equally crazy financial investors — venture capitalists. They hire the best and the brightest. Their job is to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. When they find it, their focus on scale requires even more venture capital to fuel rapid expansion.
Buyable Startups: Born to Flip
In the last five years, Web and mobile app startups that are founded to be sold to larger companies have become popular. he plummeting cost required to build a product, the radically reduced time to bring a product to market and the availability of angel capital willing to invest. Their goal is not to build a billion dollar business, but to be sold to a larger company for $5-$50M.
Large Company Startups: Innovate or Evaporate
Large companies have finite life cycles. And over the last decade those cycles have grown shorter. Most grow through sustaining innovation, offering new products that are variants around their core products. Changes in customer tastes, new technologies, legislation, new competitors, etc. can create pressure for more disruptive innovation — requiring large companies to create entirely new products sold to new customers in new markets (i.e. Google and Android)
Social Startups: Driven to Make a Difference
Social entrepreneurs are no less ambitious, passionate, or driven to make an impact than any other type of founder. But unlike scalable startups, their goal is to make the world a better place, not to take market share or to create to wealth for the founders. They may be organized as a nonprofit, a for-profit, or hybrid.”
Do you intend to start a Startup? which type of startup do you willing to run?
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Reference
https://lionessmagazine.com/what-is-the-difference-between-a-startup-and-a-regular-small-business/