Angel investors flee as seed and startup bubble begins to deflate

venturebeat.com

8 points·chailatte··6 comments

This just doesn't sound right. I wonder if this is another of those studies that lumps together technology startups with restaurants.

pg, I previously said that I didn't think your usage of the word startup is in line with some others' and that this leads to semantic discussions all the time. At the time you replied that you think the best strategy is just to use the word properly.

I've since seen 'startup' being used by my bank, an accountant, a printer etc. They all mean 'new business.' Half the books with startup in the title mean new/small businesses.

http://www.amazon.com/Start-up-Practical-Starting-Running-Bu...

"Half the books with startup in the title mean new/small businesses."

Really? I think you should recount:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?url=index%3Dblended&fie...

OK. half is an exaggeration.

But try: http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?url=index%3Dblended&fie... and http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?url=index%3Dblended&fie...

I'm not saying that it's unheard of to use startup in the sense that you do just that there it is also commonly used in another sense - enough to trigger annoying semantic nitpicking.

{added to last sentence)

Seems like we should come up with a different, more specific term for what we mean by startup. Like tech startup. Or perhaps IT startup.

From page 2:

Healthcare Services/Medical Devices and Equipment accounted for the largest share of investments, with 24% of total angel investments in Q1,2 2010, followed by Biotech (20%), Software (12%), Industrial/Energy (11%), which reflects a continued appetite for green technologies, Retail (9%) and Media (5%). Retail and Media have solidified their presence in the top six sectors, mainly due to a continued interest in social networking ventures.

It's lumping all those things together.

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