Research Outline

Looking for the number of employees working in startups, and a few other employment stats

Early Findings

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: