Introduction

Have you ever caught an episode of ‘Silicon Valley’? If so, you’ve had a humorous glimpse into the quirky world of tech companies and startups.

It’s easy to chuckle at the eccentricities portrayed on screen, but when you peel away the TV stereotypes, there’s a fascinating truth to uncover: the worlds of ‘tech company’ and ‘startup’ are not the same. These are not just buzzwords; they represent distinct cultures, operational styles, and, most crucially, different day-to-day realities for their employees.

If you’re interested in a tech career, it’s essential to understand what you’re diving into. Will you don the startup hat, where agility and ‘fail fast’ might be the mantras? Or are you veering towards the more structured universe of established tech giants, where processes are king? Understanding these nuances is more than an exercise in vocabulary – it’s about knowing where you’ll fit best and thrive.

Let’s start by defining some basic terms.

Tech Company

Tech company is simply the shorthand for “technology company”, a broad category of companies that could include everything from Rovio, the makers of the popular “Angry Birds” mobile games, to WeWork, the troubled coworking company, through to SpaceX, the Elon Musk-led rocket company. It comes down to how we use the word technology.

Since virtually all companies make use of some form of technology (law firms using software like Microsoft’s Office 365, salespeople using smartphones in the field etc), we don’t generally consider a company that simply uses technology in the day-to-day running of their business to be a “tech company”.

So what is a tech company?

Wikipedia offers a good definition:

“A technology company (or tech company) is an electronics-based technology company, including, for example, business relating to digital electronics, software, and internet-related services, such as e-commerce services”

Within the tech industry, there are people who prefer to use a strict definition that breaks companies down into technology companies, technology-enabled companies, and so on. But for this guide, and more importantly, your career, it makes sense for us to take a more expansive view. After all, I would be surprised to hear that someone looking to move into a tech career would turn down an offer from Uber, saying, “No thanks, you are merely a tech-enabled company, not a true technology company”.

For the sake of simplicity, throughout our guides, tech company will refer to the wider world of tech companies, tech-enabled companies and startups. Our examples tend to come from software, internet-related services, or e-commerce companies.