March 3, 2024

I’m not sure I’ve publicly disclosed this before, so here you go.

SiouxFalls.Business didn’t really crash the day I launched it because it was overwhelmed with visitor traffic. Actually, I’m still not technically savvy enough to tell you exactly why it failed to load in the early hours of that mid-March first day in business seven years ago.

Friends and former co-workers quickly came to my rescue and helped us figure it out, and while the hours felt more like weeks, it wasn’t too long before Sioux Falls was back to reading our first business stories.

In the interim, many readers messaged me or commented online that they assumed the site was just so popular it couldn’t handle all the clicks.

Well, not quite. But I might not have immediately quashed that theory, either.

The truth is every day as a business owner holds the potential of the unexpected, and more often than not delivers it. Seven years in, it feels more comfortable for me. But that never means it feels entirely comfortable, nor should it, I think.

Founders today, though, face challenges that I did not back in 2017. This week, we’ll get a look at the inaugural survey of startups conducted by Startup Sioux Falls. It will be released Wednesday, which will be celebrated as Founders Day and include a variety of programming throughout the day.

As I reflected myself on the “state of startups” recently, I realized that while we still cover a fairly steady flow of small-business launches, the landscape has changed a bit. I see many factors combining to potentially reduce entrepreneurial activity, as well as plenty of reasons why that doesn’t have to be the case.

Let’s start with the fatigue factor. I continue to see it permeate through business. It simply feels harder to reach people, to get things accomplished and sometimes to find the energy to keep cranking out everything the way we did a few years ago, doesn’t it? People work more inconsistent hours, they work increasingly from everywhere, and I swear everyone seems to take off more time than I remember.

I’m not saying any of that is inherently bad, but to be a founder generally means to work. A lot. More hours than you thought you would. At a more intense pace than you’re used to. Is it possible fewer people are finding the energy and drive in today’s environment to tackle it? Maybe.

But the bigger barriers, I think, are financial. It costs more to do pretty much everything today, and that includes being a business owner. Your rent is higher, you have to pay more to compete for labor, your inventory costs more, your insurance costs more, and you have to invest more in marketing because it is increasingly difficult to cut through the universe of content and reach people.

Against that same backdrop is a base of consumers I fear might be losing some of their spending power. I got a strong reaction to my recent column on the true price of supporting international e-commerce sites Temu and Shein, which are benefiting from bargain-seekers.

But while there is a groundswell of support for shopping local, there are untold dollars not being spent locally as consumers try to stretch their budgets. If your business model relies on imported goods that you resell, there are going to be barriers and powerful competitors that didn’t exist even a few years ago.

If you are a business owner and any of this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. It is a hard time to be in the founder’s seat.

However, I think entrepreneurs inherently are wired for optimism, and it’s through that lens I still believe there can be no better job than being a business owner.

Let’s start with this: Entrepreneurs in Sioux Falls benefit from a growth-minded community that continues to add population every year. It’s now the norm to add 5,000 people to this community annually, and that alone provides so many opportunities to carve a niche and grow a business.

Newer business concepts also tend to require less square footage or even lend themselves to mobile locations and online-only models. That can reduce the barrier to entry. And, despite challenges reaching an audience, a good idea can still take off very fast through the power of digital media.

Finally, I can’t remember a time when there have been more resources available for founders, from the newly invigorated Startup Sioux Falls to a number of other programs providing everything from business mentorship to help with financing.

I think it’s fitting that Startup Sioux Falls chose Jael Thorpe as its keynote speaker for this week’s Founders Day. You can read more about her business here. 

She and her business, Gameday Social, are a timely reminder that smart, local founders who see a niche and capture opportunity can still compete and even scale despite the disruption of everything from big tech to Temu.

I won’t spoil the rest of the narrative because hopefully you’ll hear from her and other impressive founders this week.

But I will say yet again that Sioux Falls has proven itself for decades to be an incredible place to grow a business. I’m immensely grateful to have experienced it myself, and I have no doubt that this will continue to be a founder-friendly community long into the future.

Fast-scaling fanwear business owner to headline annual Founders Day event