Let me put it this way: if you are not a startup (i.e., you don't have venture capital and you’re not looking to scale exponentially and have a billion-dollar exit) and yet you call yourself a startup, you are actively helping the startup that will offer your services for free until it kills your sustainable small tech business.

So maybe don’t call yourself a startup.

Startup is a Silicon Valley brand. It does not mean a new, small tech business.