OnStartups

88% are Millionaires and 6 More Surprises From Entrepreneurial Survey

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I've been a subscriber to Inc. Magazine for a long time and follow the Inc. 500 list (a ranking of the fastest growing 500 privately held companies in the U.S.).  Recently, Inc. also introduced the Inc. 5000 which is a ranking of the top 5,000 privately held companies (similar criteria to the Inc. 500). 

Although I think 5,000 is too many companies to rank (and I think they're diluting the Inc. 500 brand), it's still only a fraction of the total privately held businesses out there.  As such, my hat is off to all of those that made the recent Inc. 5000 list.  [Blatantly immodest note:  My first startup, Pyramid Digital Solutions, made the Inc. 500 list for 3 consecutive years back in the day, one of the few entrepreneurial accomplishments of which I am proud].

Inc. conducted a survey of the Inc. 5000 (2,710 responded) and published some interesting results.

Here are some of the highlights:

1.  88% of the respondents in 2006 said they are now millionaires (compared to 52% in 2003).  17% have a net worth exceeding $10 million.

2.  97% are planning on growing their business by hiring staff in the next 12 months.

3.  82% are self-financed (and only 4% received help from the SBA or government funds)

4.  7% plan on taking their company public in the future

5.  47% plan to start another company in the future.  [Note:  Shows that serial entrepreneurship as a pathology continues to grow]

6.  92% make over a $100k in 2006 (vs. only 59% in 2003)

7.  95% offer health insurance to their employees.

The full document can be found here:  Inc. 5000 CEO Survey

Posted by Dharmesh Shah on Mon, Sep 10, 2007