As part of an effort to gather more data on new businesses in the United States, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation sponsored the Kauffman Firm Survey (KFS), a panel study of new businesses founded in 2004 and tracked over their early years of operation. The Kauffman Foundation contracted with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., (MPR) to conduct the KFS, which collects data about the nature of new business formation activity; characteristics of the strategy, offerings, and employment patterns of new businesses; the nature of the financial and organizational arrangements of these businesses; and the characteristics of their founders. The KFS dataset provides researchers a unique opportunity to study a panel of new businesses from start-up to sustainability, with longitudinal data centering on topics such as how businesses are financed; the products, services, and innovations these businesses possess and develop in their early years of existence; and the characteristics of those who own and operate them.