start: command not found

Maybe Your $PATH variable doesn't contain the default paths? echo $PATH should give something like:

[root@server ~]# echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/root/bin

If it's empty, You may set the PATH variable with this command

export PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/root/bin"

On CentOS possible default full paths are:

/usr/lib64/erlang/bin/start - from package: erlang-erts
/usr/lib64/erlang/erts-5.8.5/bin/start - from package: erlang-erts
/sbin/start - from package: upstart

You may install the required package with command yum install {package}

On Debian possible default full paths are:

/sbin/start - from package: upstart
/usr/lib/erlang/bin/start - from package: erlang-base-hipe
/usr/lib/erlang/erts-6.2/bin/start - from package: erlang-base-hipe
/usr/lib/erlang/bin/start - from package: erlang-base
/usr/lib/erlang/erts-6.2/bin/start - from package: erlang-base

You may install the required package with command apt-get install {package}

Error in other languages:
start: bevel nie gevind nie
start: comandă negăsită
start: comando não encontrado
start: commande introuvable
start: command not found
start: käsku ei ole
start: không tìm thấy lệnh
start: komanda nerasta
start: Kommando nicht gefunden.
start: kommandot finns inte
start: komut yok
start: nie znaleziono polecenia
start: níor aimsíodh an t-ordú
start: no se encontró la orden
start: no s'ha trobat l'ordre
start: opdracht niet gevonden
start: parancs nem található
start: perintah tidak ditemukan
start: príkaz nenájdený
start: příkaz nenalezen
start: команда не найдена
start: командата не е открита
start: 命令找不到
start: コマンドが見つかりません