Is there much difference between a web startup and a new web company today?

2 points by aurora72 16y ago ↗ HN

I've been following countless articles and discussions on the Hacker News where the term "startup" is being portraited mainly as a new company developed around on web and not as the one which promotes and sells the latest high-tech products using the web.

These days I plan to form a company which will sell the latest technology products such as the IP cameras from the web. I plan to build its web infrastructure by myself, which will be based on MAPP stack (Mac OS X, Apache, PHP, PostgreSQL) on a Macmini.

So I bet on the idea that IP cameras will sell a lot and it will be the core activity of my company. But, I also think that such an infrastructure (MAPP on a Macmini) is what allows me to launch this idea without having too many financial risks.

And now comes the conceptual uncertainity: Is this kind of a company a web startup, a traditional (web) company or an hybrid of both?

2 comments

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michael_dorfman 16y ago ↗

IMHO, the key differentiator of "a startup" vs "a traditional company" is the exit strategy, not the technology involved.

aurora72 16y ago ↗

Thank you for the comment.

By the "exit strategy", you mean creating the startup with a short list of acquirers in mind, I guess.

I can re-phrase my view on the difference so:

"A startup is designed to multiply its appeal to acquirers and be then sold whereas traditional company is formed solely to reap the opportunities in the market using an efficient system"