Uh, no. Legally, a startup is simply any new business, whatever goals the business is trying to accomplish. The startup period is the period during which the business is setting itself up prior to begin its normal intended business operations.

The term "startup" derives from the tendency of technology based companies to remain in this "starting up" period longer than companies in most other domains. It has somehow been romanticized as a term exclusively belonging to tech.

After all, if "startup" only meant a business trying to solve a unique problem, then Twitter, Facebook, and even Google never were startups, because communication, social networking, and search were not unique problems when those companies were formed. For that matter, AirBnb and Uber would not be startups, as FRBO's and charter car services are solved problems.