VC startups take decade(s) to build

VC-backed founders - it's going to take a decade. Probably more.

Seed-stage VCs - planning to complete your full fund lifecycle in 10 years is optimistic to slightly delusional at this point.

Here's some data on the time (in years) from the day of incorporation to various funding milestones for startups.

Yes, I know funding milestones aren't everything. But if you're on the venture path then they matter - and speed is a major aspect of the VC growth model.

Chart below shows time to primary round (no funny business with bridges or extensions).

𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗯𝘆 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱

• Seed: 1.3 years old
• Series A: 2.8 years
• Series B: 4.7 years
• Series C: 6.2 years
• Series D: 8.3 years

And of course that's just to Series D - many companies will raise additional rounds or take years to go from D to IPO.

A couple things stand out here. First, obviously, startups are staying private longer and the biggest private companies are beginning to rival their public counterparts in size and influence. No one could have imagined we'd have multiple $300B+ private companies a decade ago, yet here we are.

Second, note the slight downtick in median age from 2024 to 2025. I think that's mostly an effect of AI startups speed-racing through funding stages but would need to dig deeper. Blip, not a trend in my view.

Third, and this one is for investors, this means 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿. A company that exits for $1 billion after 15 years is less valuable to your fund IRR than one that used to exit for the same valuation after 10 years.

Startups are a marathon and a sprint. Respect to the founders willing to take this plunge 🙏

More pristine startup data published every Thursday morning - subscribe at the link in graphic.

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Peter Walker
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