Small Businesses

My airplane snobdom- or just my snobdom in general- loathes cramming next to two people on a cheap continental flight. The constant engine roar and muffled coughs, runny noses, chit chatter, is irking, let alone the few lucky half-inches spared for personal space.

But this flight I sat next to a gregarious small business owner (alias Bob) who turned the travel experience into a warm conversation and Finance 101 lecture. Bob offered a few insights/business mantras that undermined (subtly or unsubtly) the liberal economic currents which come to epitomize Arlington political life. Coming from a family of public servants, military, or multinational/hitech company workers, small business is something we rarely talk about.

Business Insider presents 18 insights into American small businesses. Here are the ones I found most interesting:

• There are 28 million small businesses in the U.S. -- which outnumber corporations 1162 to 1

• Small businesses employ 57% of the country's private workforce

• Small businesses pay 44% of U.S. payroll

• It takes just 6 days to start a business in the US, compared to a whopping 38 days in China

• Small businesses create 13x more patents per employee than large patenting companies

• 60 to 80% of all new jobs come from small businesses

Back when Microsoft was a minnow in a shark pool.