The article is devoted to the study of startups as an independent scientific direction of studying entrepreneurship. The purpose of the study is to assess the degree of knowledge on the startup phenomenon in foreign academic papers, to systematize the main foreign trends in the development of theoretical ideas of the startup approach, and to expand the theoretical views on the youth startup movement. Foreign theoretical approaches to the key concepts of the startup industry - “startup”, “startup community”, “startup movement” - are systematized. Key features of a startup including those that are meagrely mentioned in Russian studies are highlighted. Factors affecting the startup movement of young people are systematized. The scientific contribution is seen in the authorial development of the socio-economic position of the startup movement. The author separates the category of «startup community» as a form of interaction between the participants of the startup industry from the term “startup movement” as a process of interaction between new participants willing to associate themselves with such a favourable environment. Startup movement as a complex hierarchical system of internal needs (individual motives, goals, aptitudes, values) and external rewards (family, institutional support) of an individual are determined. Four levels of youth involvement in the startup movement are defined. The results of the article will enable the application of established foreign theoretical approaches in Russian studies and could also be the basis for the development of an integrated methodological approach to the assessment of the effectiveness of the Russian youth startup movement.