GOAL
Find the number of employees in startups in the United States to prove that a software company a big enough market.
EARLY FINDINGS
Startup: Definition and Statistics
- A startup is a company that is in the first stage of its operations. These companies are often initially bankrolled by their entrepreneurial founders as they attempt to capitalize on developing a product or service for which they believe there is a demand.
- A startup is a young company that is just beginning to develop. Startups are usually small and initially financed and operated by a handful of founders or one individual.
- According to the last U.S. Census Bureau reports about employment in the United States (2014), the number of employees in newly established firms was 2,421,659 employees.
- About 40% of startups are profitable, 30% break even, and 30% are continually losing money.
- The fastest-growing industries with the top number of small business startups in 2018 were:
- Business services: 11%;
- Food/Restaurant: 11%;
- Health/Beauty/Fitness: 10%;
- General retail: 7%;
- Home services: 6%.
- The startup failure rate at four years is about 44%. Thus, more than half of all startups actually survive to their fourth year.
Employment by Company Age
- According to the U.S. Census Bureau data published in 2009, only two percent (2%) of Americans working in private sector businesses were employed in companies started that year. Those aged one-to-ten, only employed another 19.5 percent of private-sector workers.
- The Census Bureau’s data reveal that 55.8 percent of those working in the private sector are employed in companies 26 years or older.
- Another 8.4 percent have jobs in companies aged 21 to 25. And 6.6 percent work in businesses between 16 and 20 years old.
Startups: Employment Statistics
According to the last U.S. Census Bureau reports about employment in the United States (2014), among the 403,902 newly established firms:
- 307,192 firms have 1-4 employees
- 51,571 firms have 5-9 employees
- 25,777 firms have 10-19 employees
- 13,519 firms have 20-49 employees
- 3,715 firms have 50-99 employees
- 1,584 firms have 100-249 employees
- 356 firms have 250-499 employees
- 116 firms have 500-999 employees
- 59 firms have 1,000-2,499 employees
- 10 firms have 2,500-4,999 employees
- Two firms have 5,000-9,999 employees
- One firm had more than 10,000 employees.