How Data and Technology Are Transforming Economic Development: The Power of SizeUp
Economic development has long focused on attracting large employers and major investment projects. While these initiatives can bring significant benefits, they often overlook the businesses that form the backbone of local economies: small businesses and entrepreneurs. Today, new technology and data-driven tools are helping economic development organizations support these businesses at scale. One such tool leading this shift is SizeUp, a platform designed to bring powerful business intelligence to small businesses.
The Challenge: Helping More Businesses with Limited Resources
For many economic development professionals, supporting local businesses starts with business retention and expansion (BRE) visits. These meetings allow staff to learn about challenges, identify opportunities, and provide guidance.
However, there’s a major limitation: time and staffing.
As Anatalio Ubalde, founder of SizeUp and former local economic developer, explains, many economic development teams are small. Because of limited capacity, staff often focus their outreach efforts on the largest employers in the community. While this approach is logical—large companies affect many jobs—it unintentionally leaves smaller businesses without support.
Yet small businesses are critical to local economies. They create jobs, drive innovation, and contribute to the character and resilience of communities.
The question Ubalde began asking early in his career was simple but powerful:
How can economic developers help more businesses without dramatically increasing staff or resources?
The Idea Behind SizeUp
That question eventually led to the creation of SizeUp, a data-driven platform designed to provide big data for small businesses.
Instead of relying solely on in-person consultations, SizeUp uses large-scale data, internet technology, and advanced computing to give businesses automated insights about their market, competitors, and opportunities.
The goal is to level the playing field between small businesses and large corporations.
Large companies often hire consulting firms like McKinsey or Deloitte to analyze markets and performance data. Small businesses rarely have the budget for that level of analysis. SizeUp bridges that gap by providing similar insights through a simple online tool.
With just two pieces of information—the business industry and the city where it operates—users can access a wide range of valuable data.
What SizeUp Helps Businesses Discover
SizeUp is designed to make complex data easy to understand and actionable. The platform allows businesses to compare their performance against others in the same industry at the local, regional, and national levels.
Business owners can discover:
How their revenue compares to competitors
Whether their industry is growing or declining
How their employee wages compare to industry benchmarks
Potential new customers or suppliers
Where their ideal customers are located
Opportunities to improve advertising and marketing strategies
These insights help business owners answer key questions about their operations and markets—questions they often wouldn’t have the data to answer on their own.
For example, a small business owner might worry about employee turnover. Without data, a 5% annual turnover rate might feel like a problem. But if industry benchmarks show the average is 25%, that business is actually outperforming its peers.
In this way, data can make the invisible visible, revealing both opportunities and strengths.
Why Data Matters for Small Business Success
One of the biggest reasons businesses fail is lack of preparation. Research consistently shows that many new ventures struggle because owners lack the information needed to understand market demand, competition, or financial expectations.
Tools like SizeUp help entrepreneurs build stronger foundations before launching or expanding their businesses.
Entrepreneurs can use the platform to:
Strengthen their business plans
Support loan applications or investment requests
Evaluate whether a market is oversaturated
Identify potential growth opportunities
When business owners walk into meetings with banks, economic developers, or city planners with solid data in hand, they’re better prepared to succeed.
A New Era of Economic Development
The role of economic development organizations is also evolving. While attracting large employers remains important, many communities are shifting toward strategies that support local entrepreneurship and small business growth.
This shift became even clearer after the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted how important local businesses are to community resilience.
A strong economy isn’t built on just one or two major employers. Instead, it’s built on a diverse portfolio of businesses across industries and sizes.
Technology is helping economic developers scale their impact. By placing tools like SizeUp directly on their websites, organizations can provide valuable insights to thousands of businesses—not just the few they have time to meet with in person.
Expanding Opportunity Through Information
At its core, economic development is about creating opportunity.
Entrepreneurs start businesses to improve their lives, support their families, and contribute to their communities. But many aspiring business owners lack access to the information needed to make informed decisions.
By providing free access to powerful market data, communities can empower entrepreneurs to make smarter choices and build stronger businesses.
As Ubalde emphasizes, economic development isn’t just about numbers or investment projects—it’s about helping people succeed.
When businesses succeed:
Families gain financial stability
Neighborhoods grow stronger
Communities become more vibrant and resilient
And with tools like SizeUp, economic developers can help unlock that potential on a much larger scale than ever before.