Although in the definition of startup types, there is no emphasis on the issue that its activity must be in the field of technology or information technology, but because many startups have been formed around these fields in recent years, sometimes in the definition of startup It is also mentioned that the startup should be active in the field of new technologies.
In this field, there is a difference of opinion whether every new activity should be considered a startup or not. In most of the academic books on entrepreneurship, even the books that are more modern and have an innovative approach, start-up has a broad meaning and any fledgling business is called a startup.
But those who know the culture of Silicon Valley companies and follow the managers and consultants and theoreticians of technology companies, in their books, articles and interviews, consider a more limited meaning for startup and distinguish between startup and businesses. Small business is different.
Definition of startup
In general, when we use the term startup business, we mean the following features:
A business that aims to create value and sustainability and scalability is a concern for its members, and at the same time it is opportunistic but not opportunistic.
Of course, these types of businesses may or may not be based on new technologies, or they may still be in a state of ambiguity and are going through their infancy and childhood.
Classification of startups
It is enough to pick up a few books on entrepreneurship or starting a startup and see and compare the types of startups mentioned in them. You will see that there is no clear and agreed upon framework for classifying startups.
Sometimes startups are divided based on the field of activity, such as: startups in the field of information technology, fashion and fashion startups, financial and banking startups, etc. and of course some analysts consider it appropriate to classify startups based on their business model. They divide their work and brand architecture and try to classify and analyze each startup based on its position.
Naturally, choosing the right category for startups depends on your goals and expectations and for what purpose you are doing this category.
But maybe, in the end, the threefold division of startups can be useful and valuable.
The triple model in the category of startups
This model has been proposed in many reference books in the field of entrepreneurship and startups, and unlike the common custom in our country, which only considers a limited part of entrepreneurial activities as startups, any type of new entrepreneurial activity is considered a startup.
Salary-substitute group
This group of startups are usually very small-scale, and the entrepreneur or entrepreneurs, when launching and analyzing their success, compare their financial achievement with the salary they could get in another job and possibly a larger set.
A financial consulting company
Suppose three old friends, all three of whom have education and experience in the field of financial management and accounting, talk to each other and come to the conclusion that none of them are very satisfied with their current work or do not like the work environment or that they feel freedom of action. They don’t have enough to implement their idea or any other reason and motivation you can imagine.
They decide to start a financial consulting company with each other’s help and say that they would be happy if they could earn a little more or less from the new company after a few months.
Setting up a hair salon
Consider a person who has worked as an office manager in a factory for several years and now wants to gain experience in starting his own business.
He has mastered the art of make-up and beauty, and during these years, he has practiced and attended courses in this field.
For this reason, he decides to have a barber shop and replace the income from his current job.
Setting up a small plumbing shop
A person may not be interested in becoming an employee at all, and from the very beginning of his career, he rents a shop and works on plumbing and building facilities to learn about technical work and mechanical tools.
Such a person, as a rule, does not expect to turn his shop into a large company and offer its shares on the stock exchange in the future.
He always compares his income with working in the facility unit of a factory or company, and based on that, he decides about the rightness or wrongness of his career choice, or at least he pays attention to this issue as one of the factors.
For this type of business, several common features can be suggested. Among them, most of them do not have a dream of growth in their head and for this reason, they follow their own special strategies.
Or that they are usually not going to offer a very special product or service; Because they experience competition at a very local and limited level, and because of the satisfaction of small scale, they don’t restrict the place of others.
Of course, these characteristics can never be definitively attributed to all law-substitute businesses; But it is also understandable that there are many similarities in the nature of these businesses regardless of their field of activity.
Lifestyle Group
In the first group, the issue was that I want to earn a certain amount per month. What kind of job should I use to earn this income? Should I work for someone else or start my own small business?
So, the problem started with the need for income and ended with choosing an income-generating job.
But a group of businesses is formed in a different way: one or more people like a certain lifestyle and it is important for them to experience that style and spend their life in that space:
For example, they like reading books or playing music; They like to travel or give speeches; They like to exercise or draw.
They have decided to choose their lifestyle based on what they like.
Now they are thinking how can I make money from this lifestyle?
Because if they cannot earn the desired income from their lifestyle, they will have to dedicate a part of their life to another job and then spend the income there on the remaining hours of their life for their desired lifestyle.
For this group, we can assume and guess some characteristics. Including the fact that such businesses often remain small, and maybe in certain cases, a few people are hired as employees, colleagues and assistants, and the business becomes a step bigger.
Entrepreneurial Venture Group
Although an important part of the world’s free economies is formed by the previous two groups of entrepreneurs, when we hear the words startup and entrepreneurship, we often think of the third group of entrepreneurs: businesses that are established with the aim of growing and growing. These businesses have not come to support the entrepreneur’s living expenses, but are supposed to become big brands and take a significant share of the market .
Issues such as planning for growth, attracting capital, trying to expand the market and even entering international markets, increasing the number of employees and publishing statistics on the number of people working in the company as an indicator of success, the desire to increase financial turnover and planning to enter the stock market. They are among the concerns of this category of businesses.
It is clear that this style of entrepreneurship and setting up a startup, compared to the previous two groups, has more risks; And of course, in proportion to these risks, it can have more achievements.
Depending on which of the three proposed methods we consider as our entrepreneurial goal, the path and strategies we choose will be different.
Many entrepreneurs, in the first stages of creating a new business, simply pass by this question and do not pay attention to it at all. For this reason, in the later stages, they face many problems and they see that they did not act properly in decision making , strategy selection and management of available resources .
Also, in partnership businesses, if this issue is not discussed and agreed upon from the beginning, this issue may become a ground for disagreement and conflict later on.
