What Distinguishes a Startup from a Traditional Business

What does it to take to make or call a startup a successful one? Is it only the financial goals, if met, will be instrumental in making a startup successful or are there any other measures or parameters that should be considered?

If finance is the only thing, then why it is anyway different from a traditional business? Why give it a fancy name and worry about analyzing it?

If finance is not the only thing, then what else could be considered worthy enough to be considered?

On a simple but a bit deeper analysis, we will find few things that distinguish a startup from a traditional business:

1. One of the broader definitions of a ‘startup’ includes the impact that it should have on the world rather than simply making money. You check out any founder or co-founder of a successful startup across the world, they will aver that their first ambition was to do something that could change the world.
2. The startup works on the motive and objective of keeping their customers happy—the customer always is the priority, while for a traditional business this may not be true.
3. For a lot of the entrepreneurs, a successful startup means that they get to spend time with their family members and friends. The ability to have the ‘me-time’ or ‘we-time’ is all they count as currency.
4. Freedom of time, freedom of location, financial freedom, and even creative freedom often counts as a success for a lot of entrepreneurs when they plan to build a startup.

Now, if you look at a traditional business unit, you will notice that all the above things may be lacking or ignored for the sake of making money alone. In a traditional business unit, money, profits, financial gains are everything and there hardly any room for innovation and creativity.