Beyond the bucks

In 2019, women-owned businesses had increased revenues by 46% over the previous five years, and during that time employment grew by 8%. The number of women-owned businesses grew 21% between 2014 and 2019, which is more than double the rate of all businesses.¹ These growth rates are reasons to celebrate the many new women-led businesses that exist today. However, this growth has come with struggles. Women entrepreneurs have encountered barriers not typically faced by male counterparts and, therefore, overall revenue and employment results produced by women entrepreneurs are lower. ² The good news is these barriers haven’t stopped these women. Instead, they have developed strategies to grow their businesses and succeed.

The research presented in this report offers novel findings on the impediments women faced in the post startup phase, also known as the “growth stage,” of entrepreneurship. At the same time, we provide insights as to how they were able to accomplish significant growth in spite of the barriers they faced. What we learned is that all of the women were able to grow their businesses through grit, resilience and leadership excellence. We also found that the women featured in this research shared common barriers and faced similar challenges in pursuit of building large, sustainable businesses. We first report the barriers through their stories, and then provide actionable strategies so that all entrepreneurs can learn from this exclusive group of industry-leading women business owners.

We hope this white paper will provide women’s entrepreneurship advocates with a shared understanding of how women are able to successfully grow their businesses as well as areas where they are still challenged. Our goal is to help other women entrepreneurs identify similar opportunities for accelerated growth as we celebrate and encourage the creation of robust, industry-leading, women-owned businesses.