Jeff Cornwall has the latest research on failure rates for startups and has surprising findings:

"As reported by the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship, a new study from the Bureau of Labor Statistics "examines the survival rates of new businesses started between 1998 and 2002. It finds that 66% of new establishments started in 1998 were still operating two years after they started; forty-four percent were still operating in 2002." The only sector that showed significantly lower rates was the dot.com group, which Crashed during this time. Factoring that group out and we are getting closer to the 50% figure that most experts believe to be an accurate estimate."