The Data Behind the Fake Business Boom Doesn't See Women [Small Stage, Big Impact Podcast]


E63: Half of America’s New Business Founders Are Women. The Data Can’t Even See Them.

The media spent the summer calling the surge in solo businesses a “fake business boom.” I dug into the data and found something else: just under half of new businesses are started by women, in a dataset that doesn't even track gender. Most small business research is built to leave women-owned companies out entirely, and I talk about why that matters. I also share my own path, from solo owner to a 10-person team.

The media says the small business boom is fake. What if nobody bothered to study the women behind it?

Scott Galloway and his Prof G Markets co-host, Ed Elson, spent weeks calling this year's surge in micro and solo businesses "the fake business boom." Most of the media picked up some version of that story.

I wanted to jump on the bandwagon. I know what it is to be the one who signs the checks. But when I started digging into the available data, I saw something different.

In today's episode, I'm walking through why "fake" is the wrong word for as many as half of these new businesses, and why the data we're using to judge them can't even see who's behind them.

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Renia Carsillo

Renia (pronounced R-EE-n-a) Carsillo hates business silos and marketing hacks. So, she spends her days working with mid-size and small companies to integrate their business strategy with their impact strategy, design sustainable marketing frameworks, and find a growth cadence that works for their team and their lives. Renia believes founders are uniquely positioned to create a kinder, more equitable world. She is passionate about bringing C-level strategic support to the small and mid-size companies shaping their communities every day. Renia says, "Sustainable marketing is built on a solid business strategy. A solid business strategy is built on values-driven habits. Values-driven habits are built on healed/healing leaders. We can’t do these things separately. They’re all interconnected. ”

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