The definition
| Criterion | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Full-time people | Five or fewer, founder included |
| Revenue per head | The headline metric, published monthly |
| Outside capital | None raised |
| Profit | Positive, and published net |
| Ownership | Owner-operated, not absentee |
| Reporting | Monthly, same date, never restated |
The category is defined by revenue per head, not by revenue. A business making ₹30 lakh a month is a number. A business making ₹30 lakh a month with one person is a different kind of object, and the second is much harder to fake because headcount is the one input that cannot be quietly inflated.
Profit is published net. The industry standard is to publish gross, because gross is larger and requires no disclosure of what was spent to produce it. Net is the only figure that says whether the business works.
Outside capital disqualifies. Raised money changes what the numbers mean: it lets a business run negative for years and call the deficit growth. This definition is about businesses that pay for themselves from the first month.
The cadence is part of the definition. A single published month is a claim. A monthly record, on the same date, that includes the months revenue fell, is a disclosure. Only the second is worth anything.