Dr. Eric George, founder and CEO of ERG Enterprises, spoke at an event Thursday which may carry significant implications for millions of US small businesses earning between $2 and $10 million in annual revenue. The event, hosted by Gallup at its Washington, DC headquarters, brought together industry leaders from the business, investment, and research communities to discuss a new report highlighting the results of a nationwide study of 2,500 entrepreneurs. The study assessed the validity of a new framework designed to predict the likelihood of growth for companies earning between $2 and $10 million in annual revenue.
George and other panelists were asked to provide their analysis of the study's findings and comment on the validity of the framework--called the Five Conditions Assessment--as a predictive tool for post-startup businesses.
"The results of the study clearly show the importance of the Five Conditions Assessment," said George. "Not only do we need to start paying more attention to businesses between the $2 and $10 million range, we need to better understand how to support them. These businesses are the most important to job creation compared to startups or middle-market companies. We can only hope that this research will spur more investors and policymakers to fund these businesses and create programs to support them."
In addition to George, who was chosen for his expertise as a serial entrepreneur and investor, the panelists included Jennifer Maher, CEO of 1776, a venture investment firm based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Charles Fred, CEO of TrueSpace, a company creating an ecosystem for post-startup companies; and Sangeeta Badal, principal scientist of Gallup. Maria Contreras-Sweet, the former acting administrator of the Small Business Administration under the Obama administration, moderated the panel.
Notably, the event recognized that George was the only panelist who was a current investor of post-startup firms, as well as an entrepreneur that had successfully started and grown multiple of these companies.
The findings of the report are available online via Gallup's website: https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/285647/post-startup-companies-become-long-term-job-creators.aspx
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