23. David Moore, City Rewards Network, 50 jobs,

www.cityrewardsnetwork.com I got started in 2001 selling advertising on my coupon platform (now called City Rewards Network). About 6 months later, I was having breakfast in a restaurant that had purchased my program. I looked up at the line at the cash register and realized that over half the people in the very long line were holding one of my coupons. It felt surreal to realize I had created something that really worked and people wanted to buy. That one moment energized me enough to expand into 20 markets.

Prepare to be stunned. Recently, I took issue with news reports questioning the role of small business as a source of new jobs.  I summed it up with a remark from Jim Clifton, the Chairman of Gallup, from his new book The Coming Job Wars:

 

The responses floored us. In less than 24 hours, more than 200 company founders responded. Their stories amazed us, and the number of jobs astounded us even more.

Granted, this is unscientific data. We compiled the stories and totaled the job results of the first 100 who were able to finalize their stories with us within the space of a day. If we missed your story, we’re sorry – feel free to include it in comments. If we included less than you hoped to tell us, feel free to make those additions in the comment section as well. Already, this compilation is beyond anything I have published here yet.

Several (12) of the companies were younger than 5 years, but because they responded with such compelling stories, we let their submissions remain (although they have been noted with an asterisk.)

So clearly this is not a pristine statistical survey. However, it is my hope that it will leave you inspired. Are you ready? The 100 firms we present to you today have collectively created a total of 69,224 jobs. This is not a typo. These 100 “aha’s” have very literally led to the creation of an average of 692 jobs apiece.