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.
Read MoreOn November 19, 2025, FAI hosted a faiVLive webinar to introduce the Small Firm Diaries USA study. We shared early observations, and talked with expert panelists about how recent policy and program changes are affecting small businesses and organizations that support them. In this blog we’ve adapted and edited a few of the most interesting discussion points from our conversation. You can still watch the full webinar, here.
Read MoreIn this video we created for Financial Inclusion Week, we sift through data to tell the story of businesses straddling the borderlands between the cash and digital economies after COVID-19.
Read MoreWhat should we measure (besides profits) to better understand business success? Wy do women choose some sectors over others?
Read MoreLast week FAI hosted a webinar on the Gender Profit Gap to talk about why women’s businesses are smaller, grow less, and earn less, than men’s businesses. Below, some reflections from the literature on what can be done to empower women entrepreneurs.
Read MoreJoin us on Tuesday, March 2 as we bring together leading experts to explore innovative research around the reasons behind gender differences in the profitability and growth of small firms, and ways to better meet the needs of female entrepreneurs.
Read MoreBy Bill Bynum, Joyce Klein, and Tim Ogden.
This blog post was originally published on the Aspen Institute.org.
You’ve heard about how important small businesses are to the economy and the nation. You’ve heard various figures being proposed to help those small businesses: $300 Billion, $350 Billion, $500 Billion.
What you likely haven’t heard is who typically receives small business stimulus funds. Even with the vast figures being proposed those funds won’t reach the most vulnerable businesses or the most vulnerable communities. We know because we’ve seen it in the past.
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