WELCOME TO STARTUPLAND: WHERE EVERYONE IS A FOUNDER, EVERYONE IS AN ACCELERATOR — AND VERY FEW BUILD A GREAT COMPANY

There was a time when starting a company meant starting a company.

Today, apparently, one starts a startup.

Nobody seems to open a software company anymore. They launch a disruptive platform.

Nobody develops a product. They create an ecosystem.

Nobody sells something. They achieve traction.

Nobody looks for customers. They scale.

Nobody goes bankrupt. They pivot.

And nobody appears to be simply a consultant on social media anymore.

They are mentors, venture builders, innovation catalysts, startup advisors, ecosystem architects and, increasingly, accelerators.

LinkedIn in particular sometimes produces the curious impression that there may now be more people accelerating startups than startups actually worth accelerating.

There is nothing inherently wrong with any of this.

Some accelerators are exceptionally valuable. Some venture capital firms have helped create companies that changed entire industries. Some founders genuinely transform ideas that initially sound absurd into businesses worth billions.

But the vocabulary has expanded considerably faster than the population of genuinely exceptional companies.

And that is where the interesting economic question begins.

What exactly is a startup?

What does an accelerator actually accelerate?

Who provides the money?

What does that money cost the founders?

How many businesses really reach what we might reasonably call success?

And underneath all the storytelling, pitch decks, demo days, podcasts, inspirational posts and photographs of founders staring thoughtfully at whiteboards, what actually determines whether a startup survives?

The answer is rather less romantic.

You need an idea.

You need a market.

You need execution.

You need people.

You need timing.

You need customers.