Dick Schulze Reflects on a Decade of Impact: More Than 15 Million Annual Views

Richard M. Schulze, Founder and retired CEO of Best Buy, sat down on April 19 with EIX Founding Editor Jim Wetherbe (at left) to discuss the 10^th anniversary of the first EIX home page. EIX was launched on April 14, 2014, and FamilyBusiness.org, which shares the EIX platform, followed four years later. The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation funds both EIX and FamilyBusiness.org.

Dick has always believed that successful entrepreneur-led businesses fuel prosperity for everyone, and has made it his mission to help more startups and family businesses thrive.  This mission motivated him to launch EIX 10 years ago, with Jim’s help. From just 20,000 page views in EIX’s first year, the two sites together amassed more than 15 million page views* for the academic year ending June 30, 2024. Today they draw a global audience and are the top sources of peer-reviewed, research-based articles written for entrepreneurs and family business leaders. The sites have also published teaching articles designed to help business professors engage students more deeply in the classroom.

In this discussion Dick and Jim reflect on the origins of EIX and FamilyBusiness.org and their pride in the two sites’ growth and impact. They also discuss the success of e-Fest, the annual undergraduate business competition co-sponsored by EIX and the Schulze School of Business at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. This year’s e-Fest was held April 18-20.

*At the time of this interview, EIX and FamilyBusiness.org were expected to reach 12 million page views, but they reached more than 15 million by June 30. 

Watch the Flashback

Ten years ago, in the early days of EIX, Jim Wetherbe spoke with Dick Schulze about his mission of helping more entrepreneurs succeed and his hopes for this new platform.