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GoDaddy Venture Forward Trademark
  • Explore the Data
    • Explore Microbusiness Data
    • Microbusiness Activity Index
    • Great Britain Study
  • Data Hub
  • Reports & Resources
  • Use Cases
  • About
    • Entrepreneur Spotlight
  • Press

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2021 Microbusiness National Survey Results

GoDaddy’s in-depth annual survey of online entrepreneurs shows increasing diversity by gender, race, and economic circumstance.

GoDaddy’s in-depth annual survey of online entrepreneurs shows increasing diversity by gender, race, and economic circumstance. But who are the people behind these businesses? According to results gathered in late July, 55% are solopreneurs. An increasing percentage are people who would not otherwise show up as employed in government data, such as stay-at-home moms, retirees, and students.

Whether they needed income after being laid off, or joined the "Great Resignation," Americans created 2.8 million more microbusinesses in 2020 than in the prior year.

An increasing percentage were started by women, people without college degrees, and Black Americans.

55% of microbusinesses needed less than $5,000 to start, compared to 48% of those surveyed in 2020. That number grows to 63% when looking at microbusinesses started since the pandemic. These entrepreneurs make local economies more resilient, in part because they launch quickly and with relatively little capital.

The pandemic has caused massive job cuts and business closures. But many Americans have carved out their place in the economy by starting microbusinesses.

Roughly one-fifth of microbusinesses are run by people who would be categorized in government data as non-employed.

Microbusiness owners are a glass-half-full group. Black founders (84%) were the most optimistic, followed by Hispanic (77%), and people without college degrees (74%).

The percentage of microbusinesses owned by people without college degrees grew even faster than the overall microbusiness community. Still, nearly two-thirds of microbusiness owners have a college degree, far above the national average of 42%.

Black-owned microbusinesses ballooned from 15% of new starts before the pandemic to 28% during the height of the economic damage in late 2020.

Still, historic inequalities remain.

The approval rate for PPP loan applications by Black founders responding to our survey was less than half the national average.

Microbusinesses create significant income, though gaps between groups persist.

Help with digital marketing remains owners' most-cited obstacle to growth, and an increasing number say they also need technical help getting online.

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