Marcus Richards
The term “startup” has something that makes one feel excited! It is associated with innovations, energy, changes, growth and success. However, it can often be observed that even when startups have been successfully operating in the market for several years, they still choose to be labeled as startups. The same applies for VPN companies (by the way, Cyberwaters stated that it has the best VPN deals and coupons as well).
Although today it is hard to find a person who would hear about VPN services for the first time, the companies that provide them still call themselves startups. Why is that? And should they be called that?
What is startup?
Startup is a newly founded company which believes that its service or product will have demand for a large group of people. They usually offer something new to the market. Since others cannot offer the same product or service on the market, this idea requires creating a new business model and looking for the most suitable solutions so that the product or service provided by them reaches the customer. Usually startups are divided into social, scalable, offshoot, buyable and small business startups.
Why should VPN companies not be called startups?
While some people agree that VPN service providers should not be called startups, others doubt. Please, find some arguments why a startup is not a right description for them:
· Business model. As already mentioned in the definition of a startup, the essence of a startup is to offer something completely new to the market. Meanwhile, the roots of VPN service dates back to 1996, when PPTP or peer-to-peer tunneling protocol was developed. Although VPNs were not widely used at the time, their importance reached another level in the early 2000s when high-profile security breaches occurred.
So, 20 years ago VPN providers could be called startups. However, today, when VPN service providers have many years of experience and the service they offer is no longer a novelty in the market, it is difficult to find a reason why companies should be called startups.
· Size. Another reason why VPN companies should not be called startups is their size. It is said that a company can no longer be called a startup if it has 100 or more people as their employees. This applies even if the company has been operating for just one year. This size of the company shows that it is successfully moving towards the set goals. Also its size confirms the fact that it is not a beginner in various processes where one person has to perform multiple tasks in order for the company to function.
The fact that the company has many employees means that it has a certain structure, departments, and a clear distribution of functions. Meanwhile, startups are still working towards all of this.
· The time the company has been in business. Startups are companies that have been operating on the market for no more than 5 years. Meanwhile, it can often be noticed that even those VPN service providers that have been operating for 5, 6 or even 10 years call themselves startups. This is unreasonable and not quite right.
For this reason, companies try to be called startups for as long as possible, even if this description is not entirely correct. And their desire is completely understandable.
· Profit. This is another reason why most VPN providers are not startups. Quite often, companies emphasize existing startups because they are new players in the market. However, if their profits are equal to those of experienced companies, they can no longer be called startups.
This means that a VPN service provider can lose its startup status after six months or a year if it has reached a certain profit limit. Maybe this is not a very common case in the field of VPN service, but nothing is impossible.
Startup as an excuse
So, after reviewing all of the listed arguments, it can be said that VPN service providers can no longer be called startups. Even if the companies have less than 100 employees, have been operating for a short period of time and do not make much profit, they cannot boast that the service they provide is new on the market.
But then why do companies tend to call themselves startups? This is because startups have a certain prestige, and get more attention from the public as well as the media. In addition, startups are always, as mentioned earlier, associated with innovation, new opportunities, and great prospects. Who could not like that, right?
For this reason, VPN companies try to be called startups for as long as possible, even if this description is not entirely correct in their case. And this, of course, brings them certain advantages that other companies cannot boast of.
