This is an empirical study of the origin, demographics and fate of two cohorts of high-growth firms in New Zealand. Customised data on high-growth firms, covering 1125 and 1067 firms in the 2005 and 2008 cohorts, respectively, came from government sources. High-growth firms are smaller, more likely to emerge in service industries and grow through the creation of multiple separate establishments. The ability to sustain high-growth is independent of pre-growth age and employment size. High-growth firms have death rates up to four times greater than other contemporary firms, but the survivors do retain their employment size, continuing to contribute disproportionately to employment for some years beyond their initial high-growth phase. The demonstrated inability of high-growth firms to sustain high growth suggests a rethink on how ‘high growth’ is defined, with future research focusing on sustained growth firms.