What percentage of businesses fail?
It’s a simple fact that most businesses fail. If you are thinking about starting a business, it is reasonable to feel nervous. Starting a business is a huge risk, especially if you are a first-time entrepreneur. People quote failed business statistics left and right, but the numbers are all over the place.
First of all, let’s consider a few questions about failing businesses:
Are new businesses more likely to fail than more established businesses?
What time frame are we talking about? Are we referring to businesses failing within the first year or the first two years, or 5 or 10 years? The failure rate among businesses is very different, depending on how long they have been in business. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 20 percent of small businesses fail in their first year, about 50 percent in their fifth year. About 80 percent of businesses with employees survive their first year, and about 70 percent will survive in their second year in business. Data shows that about 50 percent of businesses with employees survive their fifth year in business.
What qualifies as a failed business?
Does failure mean the business no longer exists or that it exists in a different form? For example, how do we count a company that was merged with another business? Is that business a failed business? What if the business owner retires and closes the shop down. Does that count as a failed business?
What types of businesses have the highest failure rate?
Are we looking at failure rates based on the industry? Do we get an accurate number if we lump all businesses under one umbrella? Different industries have different failure rates. For example, 75 percent of construction companies survive their first year in business, 65 percent survive the second year, but only about 35 percent make it through their fifth year in business.
Nearly 20 percent of scientific, professional, and technical service businesses fail in their first year. Finance and insurance businesses have a high first-year failure rate, too, at about 16 percent.
Is it true that most restaurants fail?
Although it’s true that only about 35 percent of food service businesses survive their tenth year in business, about 50 percent survive their fifth year, and about 70 percent survive their second year. Contrary to popular belief, restaurants don’t fail at an alarmingly high rate.
Are businesses really failing in such high numbers?
I have read an article in Fortune Magazine that stated that 9 out of 10 startups fail, but where do they get their numbers from? There is no source for this claim, so can you believe it?
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 400,000 new businesses are started every year in the USA, but 470,000 are dying.
Does this mean that more businesses are dying than businesses are starting?
Wow. That is a scary number. It is also a bit strange to have more businesses fail than businesses started.
Does that mean that all businesses that ever started fail?
I hope not.
“More than one-third of businesses today will not survive the next 10 years”. John Chambers Cisco’s CEO of 20 years
There is a recent Harvard University study done by Shikhar Ghosh that claims that three out of every four venture-backed firms fail.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 50% of all new businesses survive five years or more, and about one-third survive 10-years or more.
This is an interesting statistic because it shows you that a more mature business has a better chance of surviving.
According to the Small Business Administration – The SBA – close to 66% of small businesses will survive their first two years. What that means is that only about one-third of total businesses will fail during the first two years. The SBA also tells you that about 50% of businesses fail during the first year in business.
This is a much better number than the 9 out of 10 failures that some claim.
Another very important thing to consider that a closed business doesn’t mean that the business has failed. For example, the business owner might retire one day and shut down the business. Or, an entrepreneur could get sick or die.
I don’t think we should treat closing business with a failing business.
Regardless of who you believe when you start a business, there is a good chance that you will fail. Your job as an entrepreneur is to maximize your chances of succeeding in business.
While you get inconsistent numbers on what percentage of businesses fail, you can do a lot to prevent your own business from failing.
What are the causes of business failure?
- You can’t pay your bills. When you run out of cash, your business has failed. You can make profit predictions all day long, but the only thing that helps you pay your bills is cash. If you ever do business with large companies, you will find that many of them are slow to pay. I mean it’s not unusual for a large company to take 4-6 months to pay. They are masters at controlling their cash flow. Learn from them. If you’re too tight on money, you should consider taking a drastic measure, such as taking out the best payday loans available.
- You are offering something people are not willing to pay for. This one is easy, but so many miss it. Especially, those who end up creating a product or build software without confirming with the market that there is a demand.
- You are failing to attract paying customers in a cost-effective way. You might have a product people are willing to pay for, but you can’t figure out a way to market it cost-effectively. If it costs you more money to get a new customer than you can afford, you don’t have a business.
- You don’t have the skills to manage your business, and you are not willing to learn. No one is a born entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs who succeed are fast learners. Learn, or your business will fail.
- Unable to build a winning team. When you start out, there is a good chance that you have to do everything, but you will only build a business if you can build a team around you.
- Unable to create systems. If you look at a successful business, it runs on systems. It doesn’t rely on an all-knowing business founder. There are systems within the enterprise that enable the company to scale and grow.
Of course, there are many more reasons a company can fail, but I wanted to list just a few.
In the comments section below, share what you think is the reason so many businesses fail.
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