Startup company

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A startup company is a company with a limited operating history. It may effectively cease to be a startup as it passes various milestones, such as becoming profitable, or becoming publically traded in an IPO, or ceasing to exist as an independent entity via a merger or acquisition. Most startups fail.

Startups are distinguished by their risk/reward profile and scalability. Compared to established businesses, startups must have lower bootstrapping costs, higher risk, and higher potential return on investment, since their cost of capital is high. Successful startups are typically more scalable than an established business, in the sense that they can potentially grow rapidly with limited investment of capital, labor or land.

Venture capital firms and angel investors may help startup companies begin operations, exchanging cash for an equity stake. Financing may also be in the form of a loan, often cast as a convertible bond or warrant. In practice, many startups begin modestly funded in a "friends and family" round of investment (also known as 'love money') or simply self-funded by the founders

Contents

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

[edit] Technical guides

  • New Venture Creation, Jeffry A. Timmons, ISBN 0-07-287570-4
  • "High Tech Start Up, Revised and Updated: The Complete Handbook For Creating Successful New High Tech Companies", John L. Nesheim,

(Available also in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) ISBN 0-684-87170-X

[edit] Startup biography

  • "High Stakes, No Prisoners : A Winner's Tale of Greed and Glory in the Internet Wars" Charles Ferguson, ISBN 0-8129-3143-2
  • "Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure", Jerry Kaplan ISBN 0-395-71133-9
  • "Burn Rate:How I Survived the Gold Rush", Michael Wolf, ISBN 0-684-84881-3
  • "Go BIG or Go HOME: How the next generation of startup companies think BIG, grow FAST, and dominate markets overnight", Wil Schroter, ISBN 1-599-71274-1
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