Today, along with Intel, we released a research report called Understanding the State of Local Startups and Small Businesses. This report reflects the collective research we completed across nine cities we visited over the last several months.
Folks from our Small Business team helped organize a series of Think Tank discussions to focus on small business owners and entrepreneurs. These events happened Miami and Atlanta in June, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and Orange County and Austin this fall, and Philadelphia and Seattle in February and finally Boston in March. Focusing on cities allowed us to delve deeper into issues that affect business owners at the local level. That’s why we called this series of Think Tanks the “Go Local” series. We started each event, by sharing local research findings for specific cities with the participants in attendance.
Some clear themes emerged over the course of that research. Overall, entrepreneurs and business owners were optimistic about the opportunities for their business over the next year. Many businesses are focused on growth. The majority of startups in the United States see more domestic growth opportunities versus outside the United States. Despite overall optimism, many business owners and entrepreneurs remain wary of the national economy, while many small businesses received more support from their local government compared to government at the state or national level.
For more insight, check out today’s press release, click through to the Center for Entrepreneurs site or see summaries of the Think Tanks in each of the cities. You can download the Understanding the State of Local Startups and Small Businesses report by click the link or clicking on the image below.
