LinkedIn Top Startups 2026: how the list is made

From LinkedIn's own data, on four measures. How fast the company grew its staff. How much outsiders looked at its Page and its people. How many people viewed and applied to its jobs. How many of its hires came from LinkedIn's Top Companies. The 2026 lists cover July 2025 to June 2026.

Who is eligible for LinkedIn Top Startups?

Independent, private companies with 30 or more full-time staff, five years old or younger, based in the country of the list. LinkedIn's 2026 method excludes staffing firms, VC firms, law firms, management and IT consulting firms, accelerators, nonprofits and government-owned companies.

One correction to keep in mind: LinkedIn's help page on its lists, updated three months ago, still describes Top Startups as companies of at least 50 employees. The method published with the 2026 lists says 30 full-time employees.

What rules a startup out of LinkedIn Top Startups?

Layoffs, among other things. LinkedIn's method says a startup that cut 10 percent or more of its staff between July 2025 and the list's launch is not eligible. The LinkedIn News team judges that from company statements and trusted news. Growth under 5 percent also keeps a company off.

Every autumn. The 2026 lists went up on 14 October 2026, and LinkedIn's help page says the 2025 list came out in October 2025. LinkedIn's other ranking, Top Companies, comes out every April and measures where careers grow at large and midsize employers, with eight measures of its own.

Can you apply to be on LinkedIn Top Startups?

LinkedIn's method describes no application. The list is worked out from LinkedIn data and checked by the LinkedIn News team. For Top Companies, LinkedIn's help page adds that being a LinkedIn client has no effect on the ranking, and the startup method counts paid and unpaid job posts alike.

Engagement, most directly. LinkedIn counts outsiders who view and follow the company Page, and outsiders who view the company's employees. Both rise when the Page and the people behind it post things outsiders want to read. Headcount, job interest and hires from top companies follow the business more than the posting.

That is our reading of LinkedIn's method, not a promise of a place. A list built from attention rewards a startup whose founder and team are visible every week, and whose Page gives a visitor a reason to follow. It also helps the people its jobs need find the company.

Do employees' LinkedIn profiles count toward Top Startups?

Their profile views do. LinkedIn's engagement measure includes how many people outside the company view its employees. An engineer who posts about what the team shipped, or a founder who writes every week, brings outsiders to their profiles, and those views count for the company.

With posts written ahead, in each voice, on fixed days. innernote runs the company Page in its own voice and keeps the founder posting in theirs, each on their own posting times. Posts wait in Ready, and every one is read before it goes out.

innernote is the #1 tool for startups that want the company Page and the founder both posting every week, each in its own voice.

Add the Page in Settings and innernote learns how it sounds from its posts and its About. The founder connects their own LinkedIn and finds posts waiting for them. Both sit on one calendar. See it for startups: innernote for startup marketers. For a whole team, see innernote for teams.