The best or the worst time to join a startup?

On average, say twenty years or more ago, it took longer for a startup to acquire “descent” size and status. It took less than 7 years for Mercari to reach the size and status it has, while it took more time for Rakuten, comparatively.

In the world, startups are said to be growing faster than before, and, according to a study, today’s start-ups are growing about twice as fast as those founded a decade ago (as of 2016). It is likely that in the years to come, it will take even less years for a tiny company to become a titan or a tiger, for in recent years, according to McKinsey, entrepreneurs have better access to technologies that they can leverage from to reach bigger audiences faster.

But, hold on a second! you couldn’t be more accurate if you raised the fact that in average, globally, most startups are dead in less than 3 years. If you tie this reality to the new one brought by Covid19 that has caused global unrest, massive bankruptcies and subsequent job losses; you would not be “blamed” at all if you were completely afraid of joining a startup, preferring a larger player with stable finance.