&gt; I think they&#x27;re using the Peter Thiel version of the word, not the traditional economics version of the word.<p>Which is a poor way to communicate a point when the widely considered definition of one of your words doesn&#x27;t match the one you&#x27;re articulating. It assumes everyone has read Peter Thiel&#x27;s book (ps - everyone has not).<p>It&#x27;s the same with the word &quot;startup&quot;. For a majority of the world a startup is business that has just started, but for YC (well, pg specifically[0]), the definition is &quot;A startup is a company designed to grow fast&quot; and more specifically notes &quot;Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup&quot;. The definitions are not only considered inconsistent but they&#x27;re explicitly inconsistent.<p>Communication is important and this is one of those instances where I think many people might scoff at the notion that YC is building monopolies and that&#x27;s &quot;bad&quot;.<p>[0] - <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.paulgraham.com&#x2F;growth.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.paulgraham.com&#x2F;growth.html</a>