A "tech company" in a figurative sense is one that adopts innovative technology practices to drive business initiatives and efficiency, using data to inform decision-making and prioritize efforts. These companies focus on team well-being, customer health, and business KPIs, and weigh technology KPIs to ensure alignment with overall goals. Successful ones internalize data insights and use them to drive actions, leveraging tools for data analysis and iteration to achieve better outcomes. The key is maintaining a level of excellence through reliability in technologies and architectures, allowing teams to focus on innovation rather than maintenance, and ultimately delivering better customer experiences.