3 Sweet Spots for Entrepreneurs Thinking About Startup Ideas

Little entrepreneurial engines that could are driving U.S. job creation. A White House report found that within the third quarter of 2021, small businesses who employ less than 50 people created just under 2 million jobs. It was “the fastest 9-month start to small business growth in any year on record. These 1.9 million jobs represented 49% of net job growth across firms of all sizes over that period, the second highest share on record.” Entrepreneurial intention and small business creation is also increasing. According to Intuit QuickBooks’ 2022 New Business Insights survey, 57% of participants wanted to start a business. Of that, 20% planned to actually do so in 2022, which the survey finds is “equivalent to around 17 million people.”

Additionally, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s 2021/2022 U.S. Report, the “total entrepreneurial activity” rate rose to 16.5% in 2021 from 15.4% in 2020. Entrepreneurial intentions also increased to 14.8% in 2021, with those aged 18 to 24 showing “high entrepreneurial intentions (20%), high entrepreneurship rates (19%) and high business closure rates (6.2%).” According to the report, entrepreneurial activity “typically exhibits peaks in the age groups 25–34 and 35–44.”

The startup ideas driving that growth seem very sector-specific, says Stewart Thornhill, Ph.D…