>It's perfectly fine to start a company that's only going to grow 10x or 20x best-case. VCs won't be interested in you, but that's fine, you don't necessarily need investment.
But is that a startup at that point or just a small business ?
But is that a startup at that point or just a small business ?
(In fairness, I'd probably roll my eyes if someone called their McDonald's franchise or arts & crafts retail store a "startup" but plenty of today's big businesses got to where they are without VC funding or really looking much like what people think of as a startup today.)
Obviously there are still other businesses that aren't inherently self-limiting but that aren't really constructed for go big or go home either.
Now there's the issue of starting a company that is trying something new and lacks product-market fit, thus is higher risk and we don't have good tools to evaluate those risks, but is also looking to grow conservatively thus isn't able to get the interest of those looking to give out high-risk funding, ie VCs.
The parameters are narrower than in the case of some totally novel software or hardware product but just because "people buy and drink coffee" is not remotely a guarantee that your particular coffeeshop will be sufficiently successful to stay in business.