Entrepreneurship Database Methodology

These entrepreneurs are then resurveyed annually to gather valuable follow-up data. This site summarizes application data collected from entrepreneurs who applied to participating programs during 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. After setting aside duplicate application surveys, surveys with too much missing information, and surveys from entrepreneurs who declined to share their application information with the Entrepreneurship Database Program, the observations displayed here are based on 23,241 early-stage ventures.*

Want to know more about the ventures described in this data?

• Read the 2019 Year-End Summary

Data Dictionary:

Startup Age — Indicates venture age at the time of application, calculated as the application year minus year of founding**

Revenue — Total earned revenue in the calendar year prior to application

Full Time Employees — Total number of full time employees on December 31 of the calendar year prior to application (not counting founders)

Equity Financing — Equity financing obtained from outside sources since founding

Debt Borrowed — Debt borrowed since founding

Philanthropic Support — Total philanthropic support (e.g., seed grants, awards, or  donations)  received  from all outside sources since founding

*The full sample includes 23,368 ventures. One hundred and twenty-seven responses were removed from the calculations presented here due to revenue, employee or investment information that was irreconcilable with the rest of the sample. 

**Approximately 500 ventures did not report their founding year, so in some instances the sample size for "Startup Age" is smaller than the number displayed.

Note: Most of the accelerator programs in this sample have made their cohort selection decisions. Based on these decisions, the sample houses information on 17,723 rejected applicants and 3,779 entrepreneurs that participated in the program to which they applied.