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AUSTIN, TEXAS - West Tenth has opened its virtual doors in Texas, with over a hundred Austin businesses launching on its first day. As a dual-sided marketplace, the West Tenth app allows users to easily book local service providers and purchase products, while at the same time helping home-based businesses grow.
With more than 15 million home-based businesses nationwide, this sector has become a large and growing part of the American economy and represents about half of small businesses overall. While nearly 89% of home-based businesses are women-owned, research has found women and minority entrepreneurs are less likely to have access to the necessary resources and capital they need.
West Tenth Co-Founders, Lyn Johnson and Sara Sparhawk, are changing the landscape for these home-based, micro-entrepreneurs. They started West Tenth with the mission of creating a new economy where people who want to work for themselves find the network, tools, and platform to grow their talents into successful businesses.
"Our goal is to support this new wave of entrepreneurship," said Lyn Johnson, CEO of West Tenth. "We are helping home-based businesses to find customers beyond their own social media presence, so they can generate meaningful income. Additionally, we offer free educational tools and workshops to help people build viable businesses from their homes, so they can continue to have the flexibility they need to balance responsibilities such as childcare."
Forbes recently reported that “how to start a business" beat "how to get a job" in Google search queries last year. This trend comes after the pandemic had a major impact on burnout in the workplace, with nearly 3 in 5 employees reporting negative work-related stress, citing emotional exhaustion and physical fatigue.
"West Tenth is connecting people to the networks they need to take some of the burdens off their plate," said Sara Sparhawk, COO of West Tenth. "Beyond the support West Tenth offers for home-based businesses, we’re helping communities tap into the talents of local makers, bakers, and do-ers to outsource their to-do lists and get back to the things they enjoy."
Since 2019, West Tenth has grown its footprint from just twenty businesses on the app to thousands, largely in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and now Austin. It’s aiming to continue scaling in over a dozen additional cities over the next 12-months.
About West Tenth
After years working in tech and finance, founders Lyn Johnson and Sara Sparhawk knew they wanted to focus their energy on entrepreneurs, like themselves, running small businesses from their homes. West Tenth has built a community of talented home-businesses including both professional services and handmade products for consumers to discover, from booking a photographer and planning a party to ordering baked goods and shopping custom goods. WestTenth.com
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Sara Matlin