The paper deals with the topic of start-up of an asynchronous squirrel-cage motor using Matlab/Simulink. We analyzed the effectiveness of the asynchronous cage motor in three basic starting modes: direct start, star-delta start and start by changing the voltage and frequency of the power supply applied to two different motors: motor 1 (600 W) and motor 2 (1250 kW). We used three models for our simulations. Model 1 was developed by a student of the previous generation who was researching a similar topic. Model 2 was downloaded from Matlab's website, and model 3 was created with the help of information available from the web. Each model served a specific purpose. A direct machine run was performed on all three models as a control for comparison of data analysis. Model 2 was used to simulate start-up using a star-delta switch, and model 3 was used to simulate start-up of a motor with variable voltage and frequency power supply. After the simulations, noticeable differences in the performance of the two machines were revealed, as well as discrepancies between the models used to simulate different machine start methods. These findings offer insight into the actuation methods and models used to simulate induction motors and lay the foundation for future research.