EIX, FamilyBusiness Surpass 12 Million Annual Page Views

Editor's Note: This article, originally published in July of 2022, has been updated periodically to reflect other milestones in readership. The most recent update was made February 21, 2024.

On April 29, Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange (EIX) and FamilyBusiness.org reached another milestone for the academic year ending June 30, 2024: 12 million page views (11.9 million) from readers around the world.  

The two sites have continued to have continued to grow in readership over the past few years. For the 2022-2023 academic year (from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023) the two sites attracted more than 5 million visitors and about 8 million page views. From July 2021 through June 2022, readership surpassed 3.5 million visitors and more than 5.8  million page views.

Familybusiness.org is now the world’s most-visited site dedicated to family firms, and EIX is increasingly recognized as a leading resource for knowledge about entrepreneurship.

These achievements represent important milestones in our mission to offer free articles, videos and other content to help entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses and family businesses to be more successful. The sites combine the best qualities of both academic journals and general-interest publications: All articles are peer reviewed by scholars or other experts, but they are written to be accessible to a general audience. And along with providing advice for businesses, both sites also serve as a valuable resource for teachers and students; their content is widely used at colleges and universities around the world.

The EIX Story

EIX and Familybusiness.org are possible because of Dick Schulze, the founder and former CEO of Best Buy, whose foundation provides the funding that enables us to offer content without having to write articles designed to attract advertisers or subscriptions. A self-made entrepreneur, billionaire and philanthropist, Dick grew Best Buy from a small Minnesota-based chain of electronics stores into a $47 billion powerhouse.

In 2012 Dick spoke with Jim Wetherbe -- a Texas Tech University professor and former Best Buy board member, who also played a critical role as executive editor in the success of the premier academic journal MIS Quarterly -- about his desire to give back to the world by advancing entrepreneurial knowledge and supporting entrepreneurial initiatives in the US and ultimately the world. Dick well understands that many new jobs are created by entrepreneurs, and that he could create more prosperity by providing a useful and compelling resource for practitioners, students, and researchers of entrepreneurship. The vision was creating a social media-based learning platform, with highly accelerated turnaround times for publishing peer-reviewed advice.

Dick had already funded the Richard M. Schulze School of Entrepreneurship at the University to St. Thomas in Minnesota, and EIX was a way to expand his impact. A generous grant from the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation made EIX possible. EIX was launched in April 2014, with Wetherbe serving as founding editor in chief and with Professor David Deeds of the Schulze School serving as senior editor, eventually succeeding Wetherbe as editor in chief in 2017. Both continue to be deeply involved in EIX and familybusiness.org today.

Wetherbe and Deeds tapped their considerable networks of entrepreneurship thought leaders to serve on the editorial board and to contribute the first articles. The technology underlying the platform was created by Operations and Program Manager James Beal and Technology Director John Eckhardt. Early members of the board included three editors and professors who would eventually lead the two publications: Kimberly Eddleston of Northeastern University, Jon Eckhardt of University of Wisconsin-Madison and Daniel Forbes of University of Minnesota. All three had a key role in contributing content and shaping the foundations of EIX's future success.

Expanding the Reach to Students and Family Firms

In 2017, EIX became a co-sponsor along with the Schulze School of e-Fest, an undergraduate business idea competition. And a year later, Dick expanded his mission to provide research-driven, practical help for family businesses, which create a majority of the world’s wealth. The launch of Familybusiness.orgSchulze Publication Awardsmore than 70,000 viewsNextAvenue,