Thanks for joining us at Elevate.

New Orleans | Wednesday, October 28, 2026

I'm Jessica Affatato, founder of Weaver. Everything from today's Knowledge Drop is here, so you don't have to take notes.

The short version

78% of U.S. businesses have no employees. Most of the systems built to support entrepreneurs measure success in hires, growth and capital raised, so the founders who make up most of the economy barely show up in the data. Weaver maps the resources those founders actually use, closes the gaps between them, and measures what matters to the people running them.

The five resource pools

Weaver organizes local support into five pools. Founders move between them, and the gaps show up wherever a pool is thin, hidden or hard to reach.

Social capital. The people who vouch for you, make the warm handoff and know your name.

Physical and digital infrastructure. Space to work, make and sell, plus the connectivity and tools to run a business.

Knowledge transfer. Advising, training and peer learning that fits where a founder actually is.

Market access. The routes to customers, from farmers markets to procurement.

Financial accessibility. Capital that fits the business, and the certifications and relationships that open the door to it.

Take it further

Download The Wrong Metrics My research on how traditional economic development measures miss the 78% of U.S. businesses with no employees, and what to measure instead.

Read Field Notes Short takes on new research and what it means on the ground.

Meet the founders: Weaver Portraits Profiles of the microentrepreneurs building Long Island's economy.

See the map: Find My Resources Weaver's directory of resources for Long Island microentrepreneurs, organized by pool.

Bring this home

If you want to work through this with your staff, board or partners, I run workshops and talks for economic developers, funders, chambers and universities. See speaking topics

Stay in touch

Sign up at the bottom of this page to get new research and portraits when they publish.

Email me at jessica@welcometoweaver.com, or connect on LinkedIn. Follow Weaver on LinkedIn and Instagram.