Startup Failure Rates — The Real Numbers

These numbers are meaningless. These aren't startup failure rates, but failure rates for all small businesses-- i.e. shoe stores, restaurants, etc.

I can't find establishment starts and closings broken down by business type on the SBA site, but you could probably work that out pro rata by comparing California to, say, North Dakota, state-by-state. 50% of tech starts still in business 4 years later sounds crazy high to me.<p>I'm not sure this is super relevant to YC get-rich-quickr's. Built-to-flip startups have a different lifecycle than small businesses in general; a small (read: "real") business grows more conservatively and lasts longer, and a flipper actually works to shutter itself early (on favorable terms).

The idea that the number could be as high as 10% success makes me ecstatic. Considering the chance of being admitted to the grad or med school of choice, those odds sound pretty good to me.