State of Entrepreneurship 2021 Report
Authors: Dr. Michael Stull, Dr. Barbara Sirotnik, Dr. Anna Long, Lori Aldana, Ezekiel Bonillas, Stacey Allis, Jamie Ayala, Purva Sandeep Taur, Aaron Brill
Publication: Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship and School of Entrepreneurship, California State University of San Bernardino
Date: 2021
According to a 2019 nationwide survey by the American Institute of CPA’s, “the entrepreneurial spirit in America is alive and well.” That survey showed that most young adult job seekers desire the freedom of being their own boss, and more than half said that they would like to start their own business in the future. Sadly, that rosy picture is countered by the fact that about 20% of all business startups fail in the first year. When examining entrepreneurship and its trends from an objective data perspective, much of the available information comes from nationwide rather than region-specific samples. This report aims to examine entrepreneurship at the specific regional level – the Inland Empire of Southern California.
Developed by a research team in the Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship (IECE) and School of Entrepreneurship at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) in collaboration with the Institute for Applied Research (IAR), the State of Entrepreneurship Report is a comprehensive examination of the key statistics, trends, perspectives, organizations, and programs that are currently supporting entrepreneurship in the Inland Empire. The report blends primary and secondary data to provide insight in four (4) key areas:
Indicators of Entrepreneurship
As developed and reported annually by the Kauffman Foundation’s Indicators of Entrepreneurship Report, we use these widely accepted indicators to analyze trends in the Inland Empire region relative to national and state level data. The indicators integrate several high quality, timely sources of data that provide insight into early stage entrepreneurship.
Voice of the Entrepreneur
The Voice of the Entrepreneur survey was developed by the research team and distributed to over 10,000 entrepreneurs throughout the region. The intent was to capture their unique perspective in a wide range of areas including the challenges they face, business trends, specific aspects of how they started the business and what drives them to be successful.
Regional Perspectives
Drawn from individual interviews with a cross section of key leaders who have extensive experience in economic and community development. These leaders support and promote entrepreneurship. This section of the report seeks to identify specific trends and issues that need to be addressed at a regional level.
Ecosystem Assessment
An initial cataloging and assessment of the key organizations, educational institutions, business support programs and entrepreneurial structures in the region. This section of the report is designed to identify areas of improvement that could increase support and services to drive additional development and growth of entrepreneurial firms.
Research Team: Dr. Michael Stull, Dr. Barbara Sirotnik, Dr. Anna Long, Lori Aldana, Ezekiel Bonillas, Stacey Allis, Jamie Ayala, Purva Sandeep Taur, Aaron Brill
