Where the numbers on this page came from
https://www.failory.com/blog/startup-failure-rate
- Publisher
- Failory
- Graded
- 18 October 2026
- Grader version
- v0.10
secondary
secondary: at least half of the page's statistic and number claims are cited: by a link, a footnote, a source named from the grader's primary source list, or one of two page-level rules noted on the grade page.
13 of 20 statistic and number claims are cited (a link, a primary-list organization, or a footnote)
Grade C
C: at least 40% of checked claims trace. A claim is checked when the grader tried its first link: it read the page, could not fetch it, or found that the site's robots.txt rules it out. It traces when that link led to a primary page with the number, to a page on a primary-source site where the number was not found, or to another page that has the number.
grade C: 1 of 10 checked found on a primary page, 5 of 10 trace to a primary or intermediate (3 cite a primary host whose page does not show the number), 2 cite a source that could not be fetched
20 numeric claims on the page, 10 checked before caps
10 of 20 claims left unchecked
In the grader's line, "does not show the number" means the number was not found in the text the grader read from that page.
In the grader's line, "could not be fetched" also counts links the site's robots.txt rules out; the table says which.
13 of 20 statistic and number claims are cited.
| Claim | Quote | Number | Attributed to | Cited on the page | Traced to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c1 | 9 out of 10 startups fail (source: Startup Genome - the 2019 report claims 11 out of 12 fail). |
9 out of 10 | Startup Genome | link | Page read; the number was not found in the text readhttps://startupgenome.com/ |
| c2 | 7.5 out of 10 venture-backed startups fail (source: Shikhar Ghosh). |
7.5 out of 10 | Shikhar Ghosh | link | Not requested: the site's robots.txt rules it outhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390443720204578004980476429190 |
| c3 | 2 out of 10 new businesses fail in the first year of operations (source: Bureau of Labor). |
2 out of 10 | Bureau of Labor | link | A page on a primary-source site; the number was not found in the text readhttps://www.bls.gov/bdm/us_age_naics_00_table7.txt |
| c4 | Only 1% of startups become unicorn firms like Uber, Airbnb, Slack, Stripe, and Docker (source: CB Insights). |
1% | CB Insights | link | Number found on a primary pagehttps://www.cbinsights.com/research/venture-capital-funnel-2/ |
| c5 | The success percentage for first-time founders is 18% (source: Exploding Topics). |
18% | Exploding Topics | link | Number found, on a page not on the primary source listhttps://explodingtopics.com/blog/startup-failure-stats |
| c6 | 20% failure rate until the end of the 1st year |
20% | Business Employment Dynamics report, Bureau of Labor | link | A page on a primary-source site; the number was not found in the text readhttps://www.bls.gov/bdm/us_age_naics_00_table7.txt |
| c7 | 50% failure rate until the end of the 5th year |
50% | Business Employment Dynamics report, Bureau of Labor | link | A page on a primary-source site; the number was not found in the text readhttps://www.bls.gov/bdm/us_age_naics_00_table7.txt |
| c8 | Only 6% have shut down. |
6% | nobody named | none | Not checked: no link to follow |
| c9 | 75% of venture-backed companies never return cash to investors |
75% | Shikhar Ghosh | link | Not requested: the site's robots.txt rules it outhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390443720204578004980476429190 |
| c10 | only 0.05% of startups get VC funding (Source: Fundable) |
0.05% | Fundable | link | Not checked: the grade had reached its limits on page fetches and robots.txt reads |
| c11 | Founders overestimate the value of the intellectual property before product-market fit by 255%. |
255% | Startup Genome Project | link | Page read; the number was not found in the text readhttps://startupgenome.com/ |
| c12 | Startups that pivot 1-2 times have 3.6x better user growth and raise 2.5x more money. |
3.6x | Startup Genome Project | none | Not checked: no link to follow |
| c13 | 1) Marketing Problems (56%) |
56% | Failory interviews of 80+ failed startup founders | none | Not checked: no link to follow |
| c14 | 2) Team Problems (18%) |
18% | Failory interviews of 80+ failed startup founders | none | Not checked: no link to follow |
| c15 | 3) Finance Problems (16%) |
16% | Failory interviews of 80+ failed startup founders | none | Not checked: no link to follow |
| c16 | 4) Tech Problems (6%) |
6% | Failory interviews of 80+ failed startup founders | none | Not checked: no link to follow |
| c17 | industry experts believe the robotics startup failure rate is 99% (!). |
99% | industry experts (unnamed) | none | Not checked: no link to follow |
| c18 | One in six tech ventures end up in similar zombie conditions |
One in six | nobody named | link | Not checked: no figure in digits to look for |
| c19 | Join 40,000+ founders. |
40,000+ | Failory | none | Not checked: no link to follow |
| c20 | Updated: January 12, 2026 |
January 12, 2026date, not in the cited count | Failory | none | Not checked: no link to follow |
| c21 | the 2019 report claims 11 out of 12 fail |
11 out of 12 | Startup Genome | link | Page read; the number was not found in the text readhttps://startupgenome.com/ |
The grader counted 13 of 20 as cited. This table marks 12. The other one was counted by a page-level rule that needs the page text, which is not kept: a named source counts as cited when a word of its name is in the page's title or opening lines and the page mentions results, earnings, revenue or a quarter (a rule meant for a company reporting its own results); or, on a news article, a number with no link and no source counts as from the one primary-list organization the article names.
Quotes are copied from the page, 25 words or fewer; an em dash inside a quote is shown as a hyphen. The page text itself is not kept. A hop page's text was searched up to the grader's text limit, so "not found" means not found in the text read.
What every kind and letter means
Kinds
- primary
- the page is the origin of its own numbers (a statistical agency, a journal, a filing, or a page that states its own study and sample).
- secondary
- at least half of the page's statistic and number claims are cited: by a link, a footnote, a source named from the grader's primary source list, or one of two page-level rules noted on the grade page.
- repackaging
- fewer than half of the page's statistic and number claims are cited.
- content farm
- the page carries three or more content-farm marks (such as no author, no date, unrelated topics, heavy ads) and under a quarter of its numbers have a link or a footnote.
- unknown
- the page could not be graded (robots.txt says no, the page could not be fetched, or it had too few claims).
Letters
- A
- the page is primary, or at least 90% of its checked claims were found on a primary page.
- B
- at least 70% of checked claims were found on a primary page, or at least 90% trace.
- C
- at least 40% of checked claims trace.
- D
- at least 10% of checked claims trace, or most checked claims cite a source that could not be fetched or that the site's robots.txt rules out.
- F
- under 10% of checked claims trace, with 3 or more claims checked.
- no letter
- a page that is not primary needs at least one checked claim for a letter, and a page of kind unknown gets none. An F needs 3 checked claims.
A claim is checked when the grader tried its first link: it read the page, could not fetch it, or found that the site's robots.txt rules it out. It traces when that link led to a primary page with the number, to a page on a primary-source site where the number was not found, or to another page that has the number.
The primary source list is a fixed list in the grader: 56 sites (statistical agencies, central banks, international bodies, survey houses, journals and preprint servers), the organizations behind them, and ADP's employment report.