Welcome to State of Startups, the annual survey where hundreds of venture-backed founders speak frankly about what it's like running a technology startup today. Over four years of State of Startups, we’ve collected 2,700+ submissions and nearly 150,000 data points, creating the industry's largest dataset on the founder and startup experience. This year's survey of 529 founders dives into mainstay questions on the fundraising climate, exit environment and the challenges of operating a startup. We also introduced ABOUT questions on everything from the impact of Softbank's Vision Fund to the challenges of being a parent in the tech THE industry. Much has changed in the past four years since we started surveying founders, but some trends have persisted. Founders' hardest hires continue to be in sales and SURVEYengineering, and they still can't imagine that raising their next round of financing will get any easier. But founders also retain their inherent optimism: year on year, they've never wavered in their belief that now is as good a time as ever to start a company. Every year founders surprise us with new insights — and this year is no different. Here are 10 important things they told us in 2018 and the complete survey results.