Comments on: Friday Q&A: When is a startup no longer a startup?

By: Allison Wood

Allison Wood — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 22:26:32 +0000

Alex, absolutely agree. As a slow-growth B2B software startup (we like to say we’re a “mom and pop enterprise shop”), we have struck that weird but wonderful balance of being way more mature than some companies our age/size, and way behind the curve (or just on a different track) compared to others. But the balance feels right to me, as co-founder and CEO, and the TEAM makes all the difference. Thanks for this blog, I get so much out of it.

By: Paul Baker

Paul Baker — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 18:55:04 +0000

Can you expound on this thought? “Despite doubling our team in the last year, we still have a strong bias toward hiring senior, entrepreneurial people who can independently own entire functions of the company, rather than building junior teams and training them up.”

I’ve had this discussion with a number of other founders/ entrepreneurs. I can see the argument for a bias towards senior hires, but I also see a lot of value in finding Jrs that are bright, hungry and teachable. Some of my best hires have been Jrs that have really grown and shined and some of my worst hires/ peers have been fellow seniors that couldn’t adapt.

Is there a lesson I’m missing that makes it a no brainer to lean so heavily towards senior hires?

By: Roger Lightfoot

Roger Lightfoot — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 16:15:15 +0000

We are 167 years old with 150+ staff and a 8 figure turnover — but the day we lose our enthusiasm for new ideas, opportunities and learning is the day I will lose interest. I’d like to think we’ll be a startup for ever and I’m the 7th generation.

By: Tom Blue - Lead411

Tom Blue - Lead411 — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 16:02:39 +0000

Me three. I am the Founder/CEO of a 20 person self-funded SaaS company although when we started we were something totally different. We have been around for 15 years and people still call us startup b/c we are small and tech based, but we have never been a “Startup” from the traditional sense. Initially I had a lifestyle business with Lead411. I lived in 6 different countries over a 10 year period working out of my apartments/etc. What is weird is that we are more like a startup now than ever as we are growing so much faster than before.

By: Jason Warner

Jason Warner — Fri, 14 Jul 2017 15:37:23 +0000

I am also the founder and CEO of a self-funded SaaS software company with about 20 employees, started 5 years ago. I don’t consider us a startup because we have product market fit, have surpassed the $1M in ARR from our product, and generally have defined business models in the product we sell, support functions, and services functions (we also sell consulting services related to the space we are in).

That said, I think many people would consider us a start up because we still have so much to learn. We continue to have “epiphanies” for how we should do things better, smarter or faster, despite that we have been thinking on most of these problems, in a deep way. for years. It’s the nature of the journey.

I will say that NOT taking on venture money was actually an easier path than taking on venture money, in my humble opinion.

That would be a good topic for a blog post actually.