However, in the more general definition of startup, "yes." Before I moved to SF two months ago, I ran a "home IT" (http://tylerthetechie.com) company in Minneapolis, MN and it was successful (especially considering I was in the heart of Geek Squad territory). I started it in June 2008 after graduating college. Empirically, the key differentiator among small businesses -- especially small businesses during tough economic times -- is service in its truest sense: the customer is #1.
There are plenty of tactics that will be more successful than others, but those will depend more on your business and product strategy. And a key component to your business strategy as a startup should be phenomenal customer service. If you truly listen to your customers, heed their feedback (and separate the wheat from the chaff), and build a product that solves a real problem, it's pretty unlikely you'll fail. (Unless, like me, you secretly wanted to so you could just move to SF already.)
So then. Are you looking to start a startup? If so, what?