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A new survey of more than 6,000 small businesses determines which areas are most inviting for entrepreneurs.How business-friendly is your state? A new study offers some answers.In partnership with the Kauffman Foundation, Thumbtack.com conducted a survey of over 6,000 owners of small businesses (most with 5 or fewer employees) throughout the U.S..The survey focused on how small business owners viewed the economic climate and overall environment facing them in their specific regions. Business owners were asked to rate their cities and states across a number of different categories that affect the success of small businesses. Their responses were then converted into numerical scores and ultimately each region was assigned a grade--A+ through F--for each category in the survey.Best & Worst StatesWhen the results were in, it turned out that business owners ranked Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma and Utah as the friendliest states for small companies

Warby Parker co-founder Neil Blumenthal recently explained why most start-ups should forget much buzzed about big data and focus on plain, old data instead.Pardon the pun, but this past year big data was huge.Nearly every media outlet ran something on the promise of crunching vast amounts of data, including Inc. Small business owners have taken notice. A survey from Harris Interactive a few months back found that 76% of firms polled believe big data is an opportunity for their business.The only problem: these companies can't even agree on what "big data" means." For 28% it means "massive growth of transaction data." But 24% think it refers to new technologies for managing massive data, and 19% define it as the 'requirement to store and archive data for regulatory compliance,'" according to the survey.What does that boil down to? Big data holds lots of promise, sure, but for small businesses, realizing the benefits of this trend may still be pretty far out of reach. So should the average founder simply throw up their hands and click along to the next article whenever they read yet another headline about how they need to be using more data to run their business