Fascinating Facts About Startups
"Don't worry about failure; you only have to be right once." —Drew Houston, co-founder and CEO of Dropbox
Do you think you’ve got the great idea for the next billion-dollar company? Hopefully our list all about startups will give you some inspiration. Who knows!
The next slightly odd, socially awkward billionaire aiming for world domination could be you.
Startups Facts
36. Failure to Launch
Let's get the bad news out of the way first: 50% of startup businesses will fail in the first five years. That’s not so great if you think you have the next can’t-miss idea for a new business.
The nice part is, you probably won’t have to wait long to launch your next terrible idea. If you’re lucky, it won’t even take the full five years to fail; 25% fail of new businesses within the first year.
35. Not Out of the Woods
Don’t get cocky just because you made it through the first five years: conventional wisdoms says that nine out of 10 startups will still eventually fail, and founders have to figure out how to scale without crashing the whole company.
However, Cambridge Associates, a global investment firm, tracked the performance of startup companies between 1990 and 2010. They found that failure rates had not risen above 60 percent since 2001.
34. And the Boss Thought I was Spending All My Time at Work Watching March Madness
70% of entrepreneurs incubated their idea for a company while they were working for someone else. There must be something about drab grey carpet and six-foot cubicle walls that really get the creative juices flowing.
