The whole "90% of businesses fail" thing is pretty meaningless without a timespan attached to it. Obviously almost all companies eventually go out of business for some reason or another.
About three quarters last more than a year, about half last to 5 years, and about a third last to 10 years.
Also if you forget the whole startup "go big or go home", what also matters is whether the company left the people involved - the founders, the employees - richer than they were before, or did it ruin the founders. Because a business that lasted 5 years and closed because the market dried up, but in that time netted the founder more than a regular job would, is pretty successful in my books.
Thanks for posting that, TeMPOral. It helps to put things in a good perspective - our business has given us much joy, far more joy than a regular job would. Not so great on the money aspect; which I guess is why no-one has stepped up with interest to take it on.
Yes, sorry, the phrase repeated by nearly everyone was "90% [of [small] businesses] fail in the first year". Which compared to your 25% figure is pretty markedly different - that's the sort of discrepancy I was seeing.
> But, regardless, when I checked the failure rate reported in gov stats in UK was far lower than the common wisdom held; which surprised me somewhat.
Does the UK government split into VC backed and not VC-backed? I always thought that number only holds for the "go big or go home" type of business (i.e. VC backed), not for normal ones.
Re:I Sell Onions on the Internet
by Simon_says on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @04:06PM
(#19732314)
How did your family unexpectedly grow?
Well, Simon, when a man loves a woman very much, he ...
Re:I Sell Onions on the Internet
by Simon_says on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @06:50PM
(#19733786)
Nothing unexpected about that ...
Birth control can fail. Depending on the kind of birth control more or less unexpectedly...
That depends on your expectations.
Re:I Sell Onions on the Internet
by Simon_says on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @07:53PM
(#19734219)
Truth.
Re:I Sell Onions on the Internet
by HenryBemis on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @07:20PM
(#19733995)
Perhaps they were aiming for 1 and they got 3 or 4? I remember a colleague a few years back had that 'problem' (planned 1 turned to 3) and he got a very generous raise that year.
Re:I Sell Onions on the Internet
by djakjxnanjak on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @04:18PM
(#19732403)
I think if they wanted to go into more detail about that, they would have done so.
Re:I Sell Onions on the Internet
by Simon_says on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @04:19PM
(#19732414)
It's just an unusual concept to think about. Long-lost relatives re-appearing or something along those lines?
Re:I Sell Onions on the Internet
by djakjxnanjak on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @04:54PM
(#19732749)
It’s also possible for someone to become a child’s guardian if their parents lose the ability to fill that role. I don’t know how widespread this is across cultures, but in my family, parents of newborn children name a “godfather” and/or “godmother” (usually an aunt/uncle) who become responsible for this by default.
Re:I Sell Onions on the Internet
by Simon_says on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @06:50PM
(#19733781)
Yea, I didn't think of that. Lots of possibilities. That's why I asked.
Do you have a source of solid figures to back up that 90%?