But what do you call a new business that a founder is fully committed to (so, not a side business) but without an aim to grow to a huge valuation (just enough profit to live)? I think that's what the parent comment is suggesting, not a side business. I'd just call it a small business though, rather than a "startup".
That is an underserved area, terminology-wise. Perhaps 'small startup' captures it best where it can also have other startup qualities of leveraging tech or disrupting a market.
>But what do you call a new business that a founder is fully committed to (so, not a side business) but without an aim to grow to a huge valuation (just enough profit to live)?
You call it "a little Italian restaurant on the web". At least, @DHH (Rails and Basecamp founder) does:
Short compilation of his original talk, by Werner Vogels, Amazon CTO:
