Among the observable features Brokaw describes are the following:
1. The venture is most often a team effort. A group that brings diversity and balance to the business starts the vast majority of high-growth firms.
2. The founders bring meaningful experience to the business. They are not learning the business as they being the operations.
3. The founders of high-growth firms often have started other businesses in the past. Not infrequently, the president had started at least one business before launching her or his most recent venture. However, many of the early startups resulted in failure only 27 percent of the earlier firms were still in existence.
4. Most frequently, high-growth firms are in service or manufacturing industries. Almost half of the Inc. 500 firms are classified as high tech. Twenty-five percent are in manufacturing, compared to 56 percent in services; only 7 percent are in retailing.
5. High-growth firms are better financed but by much. They begin with more money, but only slightly more.
6. The founders of high-growth firms share ownership in the business. They do not keep all the equity; in fact, they frequently own less than half of it. They think it is better to own a part of something large than all of something small.
7. High-growth firms do not limit themselves to local markets. The majority of the Inc. 500 firms receive more than half of their sales from outside their local region. Over one-third of these businesses have sales from overseas customers.