Difficulty understanding linked list implementation (the struct part)?

struct node
{ 
    int data;
    struct node *next;
}*start;

I don't understand what struct node *next does, I know it points to the address of the next variable; but how as in implementation? Is node *next similar to struct node *next?

And what about the *start is it similar to struct node *start?

I am finding very difficulty understanding linked lists implementation.