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Startups & Side Hustles
Hey there,

I was talking with an entrepreneur and investor here in Chicago last week, and he pointed out a distinction that I’ve started to notice as well:

Most startups today can be classified as either “high tech” or “tech enabled.”

Not every startup has to be a sexy unicorn built on novel technology. Most of them are just small businesses who adopt technology faster than their industry does on average.

I wrote more about High Tech vs. Tech Enabled Startups to elaborate on the differences I see, but as usual, I'm not the only one thinking this stuff. In his latest piece, Joseph Flaherty explains why not every startup needs to be a “Startup”:

"With so many venture-backed startups being funded and growing quickly, we’ve lost the vocabulary to appreciate viable, but low-velocity tech startups."

The cool thing is that this class of "low-velocity" startups aren't necessarily small or "lifestyle" businesses. Flaherty gives examples of some huge, really cool companies that didn't grow like the archetypical Silicon Valley startups we think of.

Read more: High Tech vs. Tech Enabled Startups, and Not every startup needs to be a “Startup”
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Thanks for reading,

Karl Hughes, Portable CTO