Good-looking numbers

The industry saw quite a jump in revenue in 2022, according to our 2023 State of the Industry survey. Last year’s research showed mean revenue was $1.74 million, but that grew to $2.32 million in this year’s report.

The median revenue in 2021 was $604,000 and that number moved to $1 million in this year’s report, making it the first time in recent memory that both numbers were $1 million or greater.

In this year’s report, the number of companies reporting more than a million in revenue was 48%, compared to last year’s report of 39%. Companies larger than $7 million grew from 9% to 15%.

With the number of mergers and acquisitions the industry has seen, that’s not surprising. Speaking of M&A activity, the number of people approached about selling their business has grown from 43% to 50%.

Confidence is growing for owners as well. Last year, 10% of respondents weren’t confident their company would grow in revenue, while only 5% said that this year.

And it wasn’t just revenue that increased. Those who said they turned a profit increased to 87%, up two points from last year’s report. For the first time, we asked if you have private equity investment in your company, of which 4% confirmed they did.

— Brian Horn