TECH BASICS
Startup vs Scale-up
Same energy, very different stage — and different day-to-day.
The simple version
A startup is a young company still figuring out its product and how to make money — small team, high uncertainty. A scale-up has already found something that works and is now growing it fast — bigger team, more process, still moving quickly.
For example
A 6-person team testing three different product ideas is a startup. A 200-person company that knows its product works and is opening new markets every quarter is a scale-up.
Go deeper
This distinction matters for job hunting: startups often mean more ownership and chaos, scale-ups often mean more structure and slightly more predictable growth — and a lot of people have a strong preference once they've tried both.
Why it matters
Knowing which stage a company is at helps you set realistic expectations for stability, pace, and how much of your job you'll be inventing yourself versus following an existing playbook.