March 9, 2022
Adam Hoeksema
At ProjectionHub we help startups create financial projections during the business planning process, or when raising capital from potential investors or lenders. One of the most common questions we get from our clients is whether their projections are realistic and how they compare to other startups' real world results. Of course, privately owned startups don’t have financial reporting requirements like publicly traded companies, so this data can be difficult to find. So we teamed up with StarterStory to pull and analyze data from their database of over 2,600 startup case studies.
About the Startup Revenue Study
Specifically, we wanted to focus on tech startups in the following categories:
- Business to Business - B2B Software Startups
- Business to Consumer - B2C Software Startups
- Direct to Consumer - D2C Product Startups
- Marketplace Startups
We were able to pull data from the StarterStory case studies for 234 tech startups broken down as follows:
Furthermore, we were able to break the startups into the following stages of business:
- Less than 2 years old
- 2 Years to 4 years old
- Greater than 4 years old
We assumed that companies were bootstrapped unless it was clear that the company had significantly more in payroll costs than they had in revenue, or if the company explicitly noted that they had raised investment. With this approach we can be confident that the study of companies that raised investment is highly accurate. Some of the companies that were listed as bootstrapped, may have actually raised investment, but it is highly unlikely that any of the companies listed in the raised capital category were actually bootstrapped.
Goals for the Study
With this study, we wanted to be able to provide real world data to our customers that use our library of financial projection templates and we aimed to answer the following questions:
- What is a reasonable annual revenue goal for a tech startup?
- How fast do tech startups actually grow?
- Which type of startup generates the most revenue?
- How much revenue per employee do tech startups generate?
- How many employees do tech startups have?
- Do startups that raise investment grow faster than bootstrapped startups?
- Do some types of startups take longer to build than others?
- What types of startups provide the greatest opportunity?
We think there are many other insights that you might gain from reviewing our findings as you consider what you might be able to expect for your own startup.
Tech Startup Revenue and Employee Stats
In the rest of this article you will find the data cut and sliced in various ways. If you have any specific questions about our findings, please feel free to reach out at any time - Contact Us.
Tech Startup Average Revenue
The graph below shows the average revenue for all 234 startups split up by business model type. In the particular graph there is no distinction between the age of the companies:
Tech Startup Average Revenue over Time
The graph below shows the annual revenue over time by stage and type of startup.
Tech Startup Revenue Growth Rate
The following graphs show the revenue growth rate between stages of business.
Average Revenue per Employee by Business Type
This graph below shows the average revenue per employee by business type and whether the company raised capital or bootstrapped.
Average Revenue per Employee by Business Type and Stage of Business
The graph below shows the average revenue per employee over time by the stage of business.
For several business types we had enough data to break down the data by business type. You can see business model type specific information below.
B2B Tech Startup Revenue Stats
Number of B2B Software Startups included in Study
Number of B2B Tech Startups Studied by Funding Method
Average Revenue B2B Startups by Stage of Business
Average Revenue per Employee B2B Software
Number of Employees by Stage of Business - B2B Software
D2C Product Startup Revenue Stats
Number of D2C Product Startups included in Study
Number of D2C Product Startups Studied by Funding Method
Average Revenue for D2C Startups by Stage of Business
Average Revenue per Employee - D2C Startup
Number of Employees by Stage of Business - D2C Product
Marketplace Startup Revenue Stats
Number of Marketplace Startups included in Study
Number of Marketplace Startups Studied by Funding Method
Average Revenue for Marketplace Startups by Stage of Business
Average Revenue per Employee - Marketplace Startups
Number of Employees by Stage of Business - 2 Sided Marketplaces
We hope that you find this data useful as you try to benchmark your startup performance or project for the future for your own tech startup. If you have any questions about the study, please feel free to reach out - Contact Us.
