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> The end result of a business is a lemonade stand or a barber or donut shop, the end result of a startup is OpenAI or Google.

That's a bit disingenuous. The more comparable end result for a coffee shop is Starbucks. Or Amazon if you want to talk about books

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pg would argue Starbucks the Umbrella group is startup as it's an franchise operation focussed on growth. A single instance of Starbucks is a business focussed on turning a profit.

In fact even the name YC is YCombinator, which in programming is a "function that produces functions" and YC is supposed to be a startup that produces startups. Here Starbucks (Umbrella) is a startup that produces coffee shops (Starbucks).

You can define startup or business however you like it's not a legally protected term. Just around these parts that's what it means and I personally find the distinction useful when reasoning about what does and doesn't have high growth potential.




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