{"id":160830,"date":"2026-02-12T01:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T01:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/160830\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T01:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T01:52:08","slug":"plano-launches-online-tool-aimed-at-leveling-the-playing-field-for-small-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/160830\/","title":{"rendered":"Plano launches online tool aimed at leveling the playing field for small businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid a boom for big business in Plano with AT&T\u2019s move to the suburb<\/a> and a legacy of major corporate relocations<\/a>, the city is launching a tool to support its small businesses. <\/p>\n

SizeUp Plano, an online platform with free access to market research and business intelligence<\/a>, aims to level the playing field by giving small businesses access to data that typically is only affordable to large corporations. <\/p>\n

Joe Mock owns Big Frog of Plano, a custom T-shirt and garment decoration business in North Texas<\/a> established more than 15 years ago. Mock said he plans to use SizeUp to identify potential customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cBig business is great, but all the people that work at big businesses at some point are going to be working with small businesses<\/a> for the services that we provide,\u201d he said. \u201cI was really happy to see that the city has gone out and acquired this.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Plano<\/p>\n

Plano Mayor John Muns assists the launch of a new innovative online tool aimed to power market research and business intelligence. The introduction of SizeUp Plano was held at Haggard Library in Plano on February 11, 2026. <\/p>\n

Steve Hamm<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Plano<\/p>\n

The platform, accessible on the city\u2019s economic development website, allows local businesses to search Plano\u2019s data<\/a> to compare performance with industry competitors, identify potential customers and suppliers, understand their market and develop marketing strategies to reach customers. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is lowering a financial barrier for small businesses<\/a>, not having to hire out consultants to do that kind of market analysis,\u201d said Stephen Cottingham, economic development specialist for the city. \u201cIt\u2019s meant to keep it within their reach, both time-wise and financial-wise.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a kickoff event Wednesday, more than 60 Plano residents<\/a> and business owners packed into a room at Haggard Library to learn about the tool. Every seat was filled and several members of the business community stood at the back to watch a demonstration of the platform. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen small businesses succeed, we all succeed,\u201d said Mayor John Muns<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s why we continue to invest in tools, programs and partnerships that help businesses<\/a> start, scale and thrive right here at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Plano is paying<\/a> $32,000 for a three-year subscription to SizeUp, according to Esmeralda de la Cruz, the acting director of economic development for Plano. <\/p>\n

Tonya Turner, 53, recently filed paperwork to start a retail business in downtown Plano. She has attended classes at Plano libraries aimed at helping small-business owners<\/a> and entrepreneurs. She hopes to use SizeUp to see how data illustrates a need for her business and where she might find customers. She said she\u2019s glad the city took initiative to support local businesses. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very helpful to know that they have taken into account something that residents have \u2026 said to them they need,\u201d Turner said. <\/p>\n

Temitayo Feyisayo-Oke is in the beauty industry and trying to expand her small business<\/a>. She thinks the tool will help business owners who were hurt by the pandemic. <\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Plano<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to help individuals, to be able to maintain the business and \u2026 grow,\u201d Feyisayo-Oke said.<\/p>\n

SizeUp is also used in Fort Worth and Austin. The company\u2019s software pulls data from over 100 places \u2014 from public sources like census data and subscriptions to private data sets, for uses like analyzing consumer spending, according to Cecilia Harry, vice president of economic development of SizeUp. <\/p>\n

\u201cHigh-quality market research is often a gap in a local or regional entrepreneurial ecosystem,\u201d Harry said. \u201cPlano has a lot of activity<\/a> going on with their economic development \u2026 now they\u2019re adding a layer of technology to extend their offerings for Plano small businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Send tips on all things Collin County to lilly.kersh@dallasnews.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid a boom for big business in Plano with AT&T\u2019s move to the suburb and a legacy of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[960,223,160,162,161,325,3621],"class_list":{"0":"post-160830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plano","8":"tag-collin-county","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-plano","11":"tag-plano-headlines","12":"tag-plano-news","13":"tag-small-business","14":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}