Median founding year 2012: the US growth-vendor market is a 2010s creation
Founding-year data across 1,734 US growth vendors shows half the market launched in the 2010s, 231 firms are younger than 2020 — and the oldest firm in the index dates to 1926.
Of the listings in The Wall's index that declare a founding year, the median is 2012. The distribution by decade:
| Founded | Firms | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Before 1990 | 48 | 2.8% |
| 1990s | 109 | 6.3% |
| 2000s | 465 | 26.8% |
| 2010s | 881 | 50.8% |
| 2020 – 2026 | 231 | 13.3% |
Half the market — 50.8% — was founded in the 2010s, the decade in which content marketing, marketing automation, and paid social matured into standalone disciplines. Another 231 firms, 13.3%, have launched since 2020. At the far end, 48 firms predate 1990, and the oldest listing in the index was founded in 1926.
Age as a signal, not a verdict
A 2010s median means the typical vendor a buyer meets has operated through roughly one full economic cycle. Firms founded before 2008 have survived at least two, which is evidence of durability worth weighing. Post-2020 firms are untested by that standard but over-represented in the newest disciplines — a buyer who needs, say, AI-marketing capability will find that pillar skews young by nature. The index publishes the declared founding year on every profile that carries one, so the age question is answerable before anyone gets on a call.
How this was computed. Figures are computed from The Wall's index of 2,286 approved, US-based, machine-verified-live listings as of August 3, 2026. Engagement data (rates, minimum project sizes, team sizes, founding years, ratings) are provider-declared figures published on public Clutch profiles and are present for 1,738 of the 2,286 listings; percentages of "disclosed" values exclude listings that publish no figure. Nothing in this briefing is estimated or modeled. Sourcing standards: editorial policy.