Over the past few weeks, the Small Firm Diaries research team has been visiting US cities to share what we're seeing in the data so far—stopping in St. Louis, Chicago, Baltimore, Atlanta, and New York, with Oakland still ahead on May 26. These conversations have been useful in both directions: hearing where our findings on growth, credit use, and jobs resonate with local audiences, and hearing the questions and pushback that have helped us sharpen our thinking.

A caveat worth stating upfront: we're roughly halfway through the research, with data still being gathered, cleaned, and analyzed. Specific numbers may change. With that in mind, here's some of what we've been discussing.