What is a Startup?

If you are anything like me, I used to think startups only existed on the west coast, where there are lots of software engineers and fancy coffee and ping pong (I love all of those things, by the way). And while it’s true the west coast is certainly a startup hotspot, what’s not true is the typical idea of what defines “startup.”

In the book “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries, the author defines a startup as “a human institution designed to create a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty.” Ries offers the idea that a startup can exist just the same within a large corporation as it can in a Silicon Valley garage.

This thought radically changed my thinking, as I began to realize there is discovery, innovation, and risk happening in industries all around us. The thought models offered in this book are just as relevant to Fortune 100 CEOs as to small business leaders.

I highly recommend this book not only to entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, but also to anyone interested in building through innovation.