By Jason Maynard, editor in chief at Grow Wire

In short:

  • At first glance, it appears we’re in a golden age of entrepreneurship. But look closely, and you’ll see that while businesses are easy to start in 2018, they’re harder than ever to scale.
  • Growing businesses are the engine of job creation. Society benefits when more people are employed and personal incomes are increasing. But data shows the entrepreneurial spirit isn’t as strong today as it used to be.
  • The Grow Wire Media Network helps entrepreneurs master the art of scaling up. Everyone faces challenges and barriers and needs help breaking through them. That’s why we built this toolkit, to fuel your big ideas and your business.

Growing ideas -- and growing a business -- requires a superhero. And as we all know, every superhero has a secret weapon.

When Wonder Woman saved the world, she had her trusty lasso of truth to help execute her plan. When Batman rescued Gotham, he had Robin to back him up. When the Ninja Turtles defeated aliens, they had pizza to give them energy.

While we can’t promise you’ll rescue the planet from an alien invasion, we can promise that Grow Wire will help you defeat a collective foe our society faces: the minefield of obstacles that entrepreneurs face in growing their businesses.

This foe is especially fearsome. New and growing businesses are the engine of job creation, high wages, and economic dynamism. When entrepreneurs are creating jobs, opportunities expand, and everyone benefits. Conversely, when the entrepreneurial spirit is threatened like it is right now, we all lose.

And that’s why Grow Wire exists: to help address this problem by providing a toolkit of stories from superheroes who have been in your shoes. For example, consider 27-year-old Devin Becker, who assumed VP duties at his family business when his father was diagnosed with brain cancer. Or look to Romina Rosado, the content strategist who rose through the ranks at E! News after a career switch that would’ve left most people struggling to find their footing.

But wait, I hear you saying…

“Now is a great time to start a business.


And you're not entirely wrong. When we look at the state of entrepreneurship today, we see a lot of mixed signals. Some tell us that we’re in the golden age of entrepreneurship: There’s VC money everywhere, technology costs are down, and the cloud cuts costs.

But unfortunately, we also see a lot of problems for entrepreneurs in 2018.


However, in reality, small business owners have more to worry about than celebrate in 2018. New company formation isn’t as strong as it was in the 90’s and 2000’s. In fact, the rates of companies starting up and shutting down are essentially even. Plus, startup funding is tough: Only about half of all startups make it from Seed to Series A, and just half of those companies make it from Series A to B.

The overall share of U.S. employees who work at small companies has dropped massively over the last 35 years, and fewer and fewer jobs are coming from companies that consider themselves “new.” This is a global problem, too. Startups are on the decline in top economies worldwide.

Without startups, the opportunity-creation flywheel slows. Small companies and the big ideas that fuel them are critical to society. That’s where Grow Wire comes in.

Here’s how to plug in to Grow Wire.


The Site
GrowWire.com is the media site with stories from leaders and creatives in all industries. You’ll find a female-focused section called Business Woman, with articles like this one about Janet Jackson’s career strategy. Another section, The Grow Wire Lab, presents industry benchmarking data in simple charts so you can compare your company’s performance to peers.

We want to hear your story, too. The How I Grew It section is all about passing knowledge along to the next leader who finds themselves in your shoes. Send a message to Grow Wire on any of our social media channels to be considered for a feature. It's all accessible from the homepage at Growwire.com.



The Grow Wire Show
The Grow Wire Show is a series of 10-minute TV episodes that go behind the scenes at businesses and creative enterprises. Watch the pilot episode featuring the Downtown Project below or on YouTube.



The Grow Wire Podcast
Hear growth stories from the folks in my network and beyond -- including founders, TV producers and creative savants -- on The Grow Wire Podcast. Upcoming guests include blockchain expert Andy Brown and healthcare entrepreneur Narinder Singh. Listen to the pilot episode below or on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud and YouTube.



The Email Newsletter
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The Community
Grow Wire’s stories also live on social media, where our community shares and learns from each other. We have a Facebook page for chatting with fellow growth-seekers, and you can follow us on LinkedIn to hear from thought leaders in your industry. Catch the latest headlines on our Twitter, and watch new episodes of “The Grow Wire Show” on our YouTube channel. Of course there’s also a Grow Wire Instagram, because everything is easier to understand when it’s visual.


Grow Wire is a rallying place for entrepreneurs of all kinds.


Grow Wire is a response to the problems we see that are holding entrepreneurship back. It is a meeting place, the North Star to guide you toward the best version of yourself, your idea and your business. Grow Wire is your community and your training mate. We’ll do all we can to help and equip you, and we’re counting on you to share your success stories with us too.

Let’s get growing, superheroes.

Start your journey by following us via the links below, and message us on any social platform to discuss sharing your story with Grow Wire.

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