There's no exact science to building a successful startup. Just look at the companies that have been built upon the principles of the VC free, lean startup model. But as is with any industry so heavily rooted in financials, while there are some exceptions, the numbers almost never lie.
CrunchBase – TechCrunch's database of VCs and companies – is a fairly reliable source for free data sets on the pretty much any relevant startup or investing organization. And this week as they hit a critical mass of more than 50,000 profiled fundings, the people behind CrunchBase decided it'd be fun to look at the data for U.S. startups that have successfully exited since 2007. Their findings make a compelling point for about how much funding successful startups take on on average before and during an exit, and how long it usually takes. While some IPOs like the Facebook behemoth last year and Twitter this year might skew the data somewhat, CrunchBase thinks it has settled on a solid sweet spot for average successful startup fundings.
$41 million– The amount the average successful startup raises in funding before an exit.
$242.9 million – The amount average successful startup raises or is paid upon an exit. CrunchBase also found that there is a correlation between companies that raised more funding and bigger exits.
$29.4 million – When a company goes on to be acquired, how much it raises on average before acquisition.
$155.5 million – When a company is acquired, the amount it makes.
7.5x – If an investor owned all the shares in an acquired company, how much its original investment is multiplied after the acquisition.
$162 million – When a company goes public, how much it raises on average before the IPO.
$467.9 million – When a company goes public, how much funding it raises on average during the IPO.
2.9x – If investors in a company going public were to sell all of their shares, how much their original investment is multiplied after the IPO. This is lower than acquisition because of the dilution of the venture capital equity process.
7 years – The age of the average company when it was acquired.
8.5 years – The age of the average company when it went public.
Graphic via CrunchBase
