Godaddy Venture Forward 2024 Annual Report U.S. Edition: A Snapshot Of Microbusinesses

(MENAFN- 3BL) As originally published by GoDaddy's Venture Forward research initiative

Behind GoDaddy Venture Forward

Venture Forward quantifies the presence and impact of over 20 million online microbusinesses on their local economies, providing a unique view into the attitudes, demographics, and needs of the entrepreneurs who create and operate them.

GoDaddy knows that to truly advocate and empower entrepreneurs, you first have to really understand them. In 2018, we began analyzing millions of microbusinesses, which we defined as an entity with a discrete GoDaddy domain and an active website, and the majority of whom have fewer than 10 employees. We measured their effect on household incomes and unemployment, together with renowned academics at the University of Iowa and University of Arizona, and established they had an outsized impact on these and other economic health indicators.

In 2019, we began surveying the entrepreneurs who own these ventures, nationally and across cities, at least once a year, to better understand their mindsets and circumstances.

In 2020, we built a proprietary Microbusiness Activity Index and established causality with economists at the UCLA Anderson Forecast. We also created a data hub to update and share our data publicly so those advocating for and studying entrepreneurs could access more information, including measurements of microbusiness density by geography, down to the ZIP code. We update this data on a quarterly basis.

In 2021, we expanded our research to the United Kingdom, and this year, in 2024, we added Australia and Canada to our regularly updated data sets including regional and survey insights.

For more details on our research methodology and other findings, please read About U on the Venture Forward website.

Microbusinesses have major impact

• -.11: Each additional microbusiness per 100 people in a county can decrease the unemployment rate by .11 percentage points.
• 7+: Over seven new jobs are created by each microbusiness entrepreneur on a county-level. In 2021, it was just over two jobs.1

Microbusinesses demonstrate major growth in numbers 2

	1 Year Microbusiness Count % Growth	5 year Microbusiness Count % Growth	Microbusiness Density* (MD) July/Aug '24	% of all counties
Rural Less than 70 ppl. / square mile	8%	24%	2.7	63%
Suburban 70-250 ppl. / square mile	7%	19%	3.5	22%
Urban More than 250 ppl. / square mile	22%	35%	7.6	15%

*Microbusiness Density is defined as the number of microbusinesses per 100 people

Top 20 States By Microbusiness Count Growth

State	1 year Microbusiness Count % Growth	5 year Microbusiness Count % Growth	Active Microbusinesses July/Aug '24	Microbusiness Density July/Aug '24
Delaware	65%	359%	381,543	38.4
Montana	45%	61%	83,132	7.6
Nevada	36%	44%	601,058	19.4
Washington	31%	50%	720,836	9.4
Colorado	24%	30%	598,249	10.4
New York	21%	29%	1,832,298	9.2
California	14%	19%	4,026,197	10.2
Florida	14%	32%	2,471,412	11.4
Oklahoma	14%	57%	289,666	7.3
Wyoming	14%	212%	112,421	19.5
Idaho	11%	40%	127,196	6.9
North Carolina	8%	26%	614,706	5.9
New Hampshire	8%	6%	93,567	6.8
Utah	8%	17%	285,835	8.7
Virgina	7%	15%	525,968	6.1
South Carolina	7%	30%	264,508	5.1
Pennsylvania	7%	31%	724,360	5.6
Arkansas	7%	7%	89.367	3.0
Texas	7%	26%	1,934,665	6.6
Indiana	7%	17%	270,259	4.0

Cities of all sizes are booming 2

	1 Year Microbusiness Count % Growth	5 Year Microbusiness Count % Growth	Microbusiness Density* July/Aug'24	% Of All Counties
Small Cities 0-50k pop	7%	22%	6.7	76%
Mid-sized Cities 50 - 400k pop	13%	27%	7.5	22%
Large Cities 400K+ pop	9%	22%	9.5	1%

*Microbusiness Density is defined as the number of microbusinesses per 100 people

Top 20 Cities by Microbusiness Count Growth
City, State	1 year Micro- business Count % Growth	5 year Micro- business Count % Growth	Active Micro- business July/ Aug '24	Micro- business Density July/ Aug '24
San Francisco, CA	142%	123%	329,060	38.7
Denver, CO	96%	106%	215,879	19.6
Oklahoma City, OK	82%	140%	81,383	11.7
Los Angeles, CA	61%	32%	477,061	19.8
Pittsburgh, PA	16%	217%	162,461	23.4
Sacramento, CA	15%	21%	51,613	6.1
Staten Island, NY	11%	32%	29,925	6.1
Tampa, FL	10%	17%	94,647	11.5
Fort Worth, TX	10%	24%	50,182	5.2
Indianapolis, IN	10%	17%	55,842	5.7
Spring, TX	9%	33%	42,743	10.2
San Antonio, TX	9%	64%	122,053	6.6
Raleigh, NC	9%	32%	66,927	12.0
Miami, FL	8%	43%	353,599	19.1
Nashville, TN	8%	18%	62,435	13.1
Salt Lake City, UT	8%	8%	50,648	10.1
Aurora, CO	7%	8%	27,022	5.9
Charlotte, NC	7%	28%	90,015	9.4
Philadelphia, PA	7%	29%	85,456	5.4
Fresno, CA	7%	17%	20,599	3.3

Partner research excerpt

GoDaddy Venture Forward and UCLA Anderson Forecast economists developed another way to capture microbusiness activity since 2019 via the Microbusiness Activity Index (“MAI”) , which is comprised of three sub-indices:

Infrastructure Index

• Measures how ready for microbusiness entrepreneurship an area is, as indicated by the level of physical infrastructure (internet) and intellectual capital available in the area.

Participation Index

• The number and growth rate of both GoDaddy online microbusinesses in the area and the entrepreneurs who create them.

Engagement Index

• A combination of 7 measures of activity, such as economic footprint and website traffic levels.

The latest 2024 report is available to download .

TAKEAWAYS

• Figure 1. Microbusiness Activity Index Score by State, March 2024 (above). The darker the purple color, the higher the activity index. Washington DC (110.4), Utah (108.2), Colorado (108), Oregon (106.6), Maryland (106.6), and Washington (106.3) had the highest levels on the index. Arkansas (100.4), West Virginia (99.8), and Mississippi (98.6) had the lowest levels.
  
• Figure 2. Microbusiness Activity Index Change by State, March 2023 to March 2024 (above) with the intensity of the blue color indicating a larger increase or a smaller decline. We can see Rhode Island (+1.3), Alaska (+1.1), Massachusetts (+1), Nebraska (+1), and Wyoming (+1) experienced largest increases in the index over the past year.

For full report and extended explanation, please go to section 04 - New Research.

Which industries saw the greatest change in online orders received?

• Year-Over-Year Average Revenue Change by Industry (Aug 2023 - Aug 2024)

Top 5 Industries (by % Gain)	Bottom 5 Industries (by% Loss)
Industry	Y/Y Change	Industry	Y/Y Change
Religion	286%	Personal Services	-51%
Business	25%	Food and Drink	-28%
Home Services	16%	Professional Services	-27%
Events	14%	Writing	-23%
Law	12%	Photography	-18%

Industry Glossary as Self-Reported by Website Owner

• Religion: Churches, spiritual events, faith-based books and merchandise
• Personal Services: Includes accountants and assistants, services for individuals
• Business: General business catch-all category, may include advisors and consultants
• Writing: Writers for hire and professional authors
• Home Services: Home cleaning services, lawn care services, powerwashing services
• Photography: Photographers, their portfolios, and photography equipment
• Law: Lawyers and legal-related services and information
• Marketing: Marketing companies, lead generators, marketing consultants
• Professional Services: Technical assistance, consultants, grant writing
• Real Estate : Real estate agents, companies, listing aggregators

Which industries saw the greatest change in online revenue growth?

• Year-Over-Year Average Revenue Change by Industry (Aug 2023 - Aug 2024)

Top 5 Industries (by % Gain)	Bottom 5 Industries (by % Loss)
Industry	Y/Y Change	Industry	Y/Y Change
Financial	142%	Writing	-77%
Marketing	42%	Personal Services	-50%
Software/IT	29%	Business	-50%
Religion	24%	Food and Drink	-45%
Home Services	14%	Wedding	-23%

Industry Glossary as Self-Reported by Website

• Financial: Finance companies, banks, credit unions, investment firms
• Writing: Writers for hire and professional authors
• Marketing: Marketing companies, lead generators, marketing consultants
• Personal Services: Includes accountants and assistants, services for individuals
• Software/IT: Software companies, cybersecurity firms, cloud computing
• Religion: Churches, spiritual events, faith-based books and merchandis
• Home Services: Home cleaning services, lawn care services, power washing services
• Wedding: Wedding planners, bridal shops, some venues
• Food and Drink: Bakeries, confectioners and food manufacturers

Download the full report .

GoDaddy Venture Forward 2024 Annual Report | U.S. Edition

This report is powered by the latest data from Venture Forward, GoDaddy's research initiative to quantify the presence and impact of over 20 million global online microbusinesses on their local economies, while shining a light on the entrepreneurs behind them.

We're here to support entrepreneurs.

Contact GoDaddy Venture Forward at ...

1Source: GoDaddy Venture Forward and 2023 - Bureau of Labor Statistics
2Source: GoDaddy Venture Forward 2019-2024

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