Every startup founder has heard that 90% of startups fail within the first five years. I'm sure that rate is very wrong, but let's assume for the moment that it's true.
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Even if it's true, it's probably still wrong for you because you are probably in a subgroup with a much lower failure rate. If you're a startup founder and reading this blog the following is likely.
- Your business has low initial capital costs.
- You're doing a software/Internet startup with low marginal costs.
- You're not doing it blind, i.e. you're getting a lot of good advice from experienced people.
If you add to that the right personality traits, e.g. determination, and some savings to give you a decent run-way, then your expected failure rate is certainly much lower than 90%, perhaps 50-60%.
At that rate, you might as well call it a 40% success rate.