Ask HN: What is the distribution of startup success?
1) By startup we mean largely software-driven company of interest to the HN community. It can either go on to VC financing, or not.
2) Startup achieved $500K+ seed capital on or after 1/1/2002 (we want to eliminate the dot-com bust as much as possible).
3) Within 7 years there is either an actual valuation event, or good subjective evidence to support a valuation. (This rule leaves many younger companies in a nebulous state. Use your judgement.)
4) Return is return on the seed investment.
5) Estimate for distribution points of 100:1, 50:1, 10:1, 5:1, 2:1, 1:1, 0.5:1, 0.1:1, 0:1, summing to 1.
I realize this is not a substitute for due diligence, but simply a data point similar to total stock market return.