The following is from the WSJ
"Tableau defines “rocket ships” as companies that reach $50 million in annual sales in six years or less. Only 28% of the nation’s top software companies met this mark. Novell Inc., which pulled in nearly $1 billion in revenue in 2008, touched the $50 million mark the quickest, just three years after it was founded in 1983…A “hot company,” in this analysis, is one with $50 million in revenue in the first seven to 12 years."
Number of years it took for publicly-traded software companies to break the $50m in revenue barrier:
Adobe: 6 yrs
SuccessFactors: 7 yrs
Microsoft: 8 yrs
Red Hat: 9 yrs
Concur: 10 yrs
Omniture: 11 yrs
