GoDaddy Venture Forward Quarterly Newsletter
Venture Forward Q1 - 2024
Originally published on GoDaddy LinkedIn
Welcome to the second quarterly issue of the GoDaddy Venture Forward newsletter! Here we share our latest data, insights and news about small and microbusinesses. Venture Forward is a GoDaddy research initiative established in 2018 to quantify the growth and impact of online microbusinesses on their local economies, and to provide a unique view into the attitudes, demographics and needs of these entrepreneurs (GoDaddy defines microbusinesses as small businesses with a unique domain, an active website and most often fewer than 10 employees).
Venture Forward supports GoDaddy’s mission to empower entrepreneurs everywhere, making opportunity more inclusive for all. We believe the more we uncover and learn about entrepreneurs and their microbusinesses, the better we can support them and advocate for their success. That’s why we strive to share data and insights that are easily accessible and timely.
We’d love to hear from you, so please leave a comment with your thoughts or takeaways. We encourage you to share this issue with other small business advocates in your network and if you haven’t already, subscribe to get our latest insights delivered right to your LinkedIn newsfeed!
Alexandra Rosen
Sr. Director, Venture Forward
Updated Microbusiness Data Hub and New U.S. Economic Outcomes
The Microbusiness Data Hub has been refreshed through December and the fourth quarter of 2023, including updated microbusiness density data, Microbusiness Activity Index, entrepreneur survey results and e-commerce trends.
This week, we've also released our latest review of the impacts made by these entrepreneurs on job creation and unemployment based on the latest U.S. Census Data and BLS through December 2023.
Statistically significant findings in partnership with UCLA Anderson Forecast economists include:
1. At the county-level, every additional microbusiness entrepreneur adds about seven jobs, which has continued to grow based on data through 2023.
- Analysis of data from 2018 to 2022 found the effect of microbusiness entrepreneurship to be two or more new jobs for every additional entrepreneur, and from 2020 to 2022, about six new jobs.
2. Adding 1,000 new microbusiness entrepreneurs in a county is associated with a drop of 0.11 percentage points in the unemployment rate.
- This means that studying Miami-Dade County in Florida, with almost 430,000 microbusinesses and 2.1 million people over the age of 18, adding just 1,000 entrepreneurs would reduce the region’s unemployment rate by almost 7% (from 1.6% to 1.49%).
- And Cuyahoga County, Ohio (home to Cleveland), with over 72,000 microbusinesses, could see a decrease of 3% in unemployment from 3.2% to 3.09% by adding 1,000 new microbusiness entrepreneurs.
GoDaddy Venture Forward Launches in Australia and Canada
In February 2024, GoDaddy expanded its Venture Forward research initiative in two new international markets: Australia, with over 315,000 online microbusinesses, and Canada, which boasts over 770,000 online microbusinesses.
We learned where those businesses are and how they’re growing, and we surveyed thousands of the operators who own and run them.
Some highlights:
- Australia is home to a thriving side-hustle culture. 61% of Australian entrepreneurs are running their business as a side hustle, meaning the venture is not their main source of income.
- In Canada, the barriers to entry for starting a microbusiness have never been lower. More than half of online microbusinesses were started with less than $5,000 CAD of initial capital.
Discover more about Australia and Canada...
Data Forward
Data Forward is a data-driven content series that explores microbusiness trends and insights informed by GoDaddy’s Venture Forward research initiative. Read some of our latest Data Forward posts below:
U.S. Entrepreneurs Skew Older than Counterparts in the U.K.
One in six microbusiness owners from all generations earn over $100K or £180K, but the breakdown in age groups differs between the U.S. and U.K.
In the U.S., the older the microbusiness owner, the more they make, compared to the U.K., where earnings are more evenly split among age groups. In the U.S., 60% of Gen X and 62% of baby boomers earn over $100K, while 25-26% of Generation Z, Gen X and baby boomers from the U.K. report revenue over £180K.
Women Microbusiness Owners Up 33% in the U.K. and 10% in U.S., Narrowing the Gender Gap
The number of women-owned microbusinesses has continued to increase in both the U.S. and U.K. according to the 2023 GoDaddy Venture Forward U.S. National Survey of over 3,500 microbusiness owners. As a result, the gender gap narrowed. More than half (51%) of microbusiness owners in the U.S. are women, increasing by 10% in the last two years, and up 25% relative to where it started in 2019. And 42% of microbusiness owners in the U.K. are women, up 33% in the last two years.
Recent Events
Las Vegas’ First-Ever Microbusiness Summit
The first of its kind Microbusiness Summit took place on Saturday, February 24, 2024, at Las Vegas City Hall. GoDaddy Venture Forward research identified Las Vegas as having the second-highest number of microbusinesses in the country after New York City and three times the national average.
Inspired by the massive presence and growth of businesses with fewer than 10 employees (known as microbusinesses) found in Southern Nevada, GoDaddy, the City of Las Vegas, Workforce Connections and Bank of Nevada collaborated to design an impactful agenda based on the top three challenges facing Las Vegas entrepreneurs according to local Venture Forward surveys.
Research Deep Dive Hosted By Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center
In February of 2024, nearly 100 virtual attendees joined the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, GoDaddy Venture Forward and the Wells Fargo Foundation to discuss fresh data on women-led entrepreneurship. In this interactive workshop, the panel aimed to shine a light on the experiences and success factors for women business owners, including speed to cash flow break-even and access to capital. The goal was for participants to leave with a deeper understanding and concrete ideas to support women business owners and accelerate their success.
Read more and watch a recording of the conversation...
In the News
Tammy Thompson and Alexandra Rosen: Black Women Lead Pittsburgh's Microbusiness Revival
Pittsburgh stands out as one of the fastest-growing areas for America’s smallest businesses, called microbusinesses... This kind of entrepreneurship has flourished since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. In fact, 39% of microbusinesses have started since 2020. And in Pittsburgh, Black women lead the charge.
...Research from Venture Forward offers a deeper view into Pittsburgh’s microbusinesses. There are currently more than 167,000 such businesses in Allegheny County, a number that has nearly tripled since September 2019. About 144,000 of those call the city of Pittsburgh home.
Read more in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette...
About GoDaddy Venture Forward
GoDaddy's Venture Forward research initiative analyzes more than 20 million online businesses with a digital presence (measured by a unique domain and an active website). Most of these businesses employ fewer than 10 people, classifying each as a microbusiness. While they may be small, their economic impact is outsized even though they often don’t show up in traditional government statistics.
Since 2018, Venture Forward surveyed more than 30,000 small business owners with a digital presence, making it the premiere source for microbusiness data and insights.
Published by GoDaddy
We're back with the second issue of our Venture Forward Newsletter! This edition features the latest U.S. economic impact made by small and microbusinesses, global expansion of the data into Australia and Canada, recent trends, and events in support of entrepreneurs! Subscribe today to get this quarterly newsletter in your inbox.
