Startup Tucson Alumni Annual Survey: Impacts of COVID and more.

Each year, Startup Tucson conducts a survey of long-term alumni in order to gather data on the status of startups in our community, as many of these businesses are not reflected in more traditional economic development data. We are one of the only organizations in our region conducting this type of longitudinal data collection effort, so this information-- while limited-- is an important contribution to our understanding of how small business and startups contribute to our economic development.

Startup Tucson defines “Alumni” as the participants starting in 2014, many of whom participated in Startup Tucson’s Thryve Programming, a 10 week accelerator. Responses are voluntary and anonymous, given the sensitive nature of the data. Out of 86 alumni who we reached out to, we had 21 respondents. The following data is self-reported from the 24% of Startup Tucson Alumni who choose to participate.

COVID IMPACTS

81% of Startup Tucson alumni reported that their business was negatively or somewhat negatively impacted by COVID

The following impacts were reported:

• 32% reported a Loss of Revenue

• 14% reported a Loss of staff

• 14%reported a Loss of financing

• 14% reported a business closed

These findings are consistent with national and regional data that demonstrates that 27.8% small businesses in our region reported a decline in revenue. In a recent national study, the average loss of business by small businesses ranged state-by-state from 60% to 25%.

JOB GROWTH

Startup Tucson Alumnus Contribute to Job Growth:

• Full time employees currently employed: 251

• Full time employees hired in the past twelve months: 41

• Part Time/Contracted Workers: 40

• Part Time/Contracted Workers in the past twelve months: 30

CAPITAL ATTRACTION

Startup Tucson Alumnus Contribute to Capital Attraction:

• Capital Attraction To date: $22,187,000

• Capital Attraction in the past 12 months (angel/VC): $15,160,000

• Capital Attraction in the past 12 months (bank): $242,000

• Annual Revenue in the past 12 months: $29,967,600