What am I?! A Startup or Business?

Episode 1 – Key characteristics

As the Chief Entrepreneur at Runway since 2018 and now the Managing Director since 2021, I’ve observed some confusion and inconsistencies around how the term “Startups” has been used. Therefore, I thought it might be useful to provide a series of blogs in relation to the key differences between Startups and Businesses. Both are important in our regional economy, and we need to support both.

What others think about the difference between a Startup or Business?

I’d like to start the series by introducing some thoughts from others on what the differences are between a Startup and a traditional Business. Here is one that I found from Manish Agarwal on LinkedIn. Another one in a Forbes article. Lastly a good summary from Tony Robbins found here.

Regardless of whether you are a Startup or a Business though, there is a common term used to describe the person who has established a Startup or Business – and as much I don’t particularly like using the term these days (probably because it’s overused and can be too hard to say!) – it is what most people use in the industry – and that is “Entrepreneur”. And because I am a big fan of definitions as it sets context, here is a good read on Investopedia for the term “Entrepreneur”.

Some interesting stats about Entrepreneurs

Now for some interesting statistics – because we all love a bit of data! Particularly if they are Australian statistics and recent…

Did you know that 18,484 new businesses were registered in Australia in December 2020? That is a big number. You can read about some more important stats here to get you thinking about why Startups and Businesses are important for our economy.

My summary of Startups versus Business

A lot to digest here, so here is my summary of the key characteristics that differentiate a Startup from a Business:

We will explore each of these categories in the coming weeks to discuss things you need to consider as a Startup or a Business. In the meantime, feel free to connect with me to have a chat about your idea.

Stay tuned!