Prediction: Over the next 10 years, one big barrier to entry for startups--access to cash--won't be an issue.

Those are some of the conclusions of a recent report from Emergent Research and Intuit  that discusses small business trends over the next decade.  

This will be quite a week for women entrepreneurs. Not only is the first-ever gathering of East coast-West coast women entrepreneurs—and potential start-up investors—happening in Silicon Valley, but there are also events worldwide for women—and men—during Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Such events are critical for encouraging women to seek out financing and partnerships for growing their small businesses or business ideas.

Common wisdom is that the United States is the sine qua non of global entrepreneurship. Quite simply, when it comes to the creation of not only startups, but those with high-growth potential, this is the place to be. And that's a good thing, too, because it's supposed to fuel economic growth.

But a new report from the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy has found otherwise.

Independent venture capital firms aren't the only ones making VC investments. Many corporations also have their own investment operations.  Usually aimed at eventually buying the most promising startups, these entities often aren't run as independent business units.

Only their bets don't usually pay off, at least not for shareholders.

A lot of fuss has been made about new Kauffman Foundation research  showing a substantial rise in the number of startups in 2009--the highest rate in 14 years. But what's been left out of the commentary is how those findings compare to an exhaustive Kauffman study disclosed a few months ago. It demonstrated that the number of new firms created in the US over a period of several decades, ending with 2005,  remained fairly constant over time.

The clear implication: The current crisis, with its precipitous increase in unemployment, has caused an unprecedented rise in startup activity. 

With all the talk lately about how small businesses are vital to job creation, turns out it's a relatively small number of high-growth entrepreneurial firms creating much of that employment.  And, now, there's pending legislation, pushed heavily by venture capitalists, that could encourage the growth of such companies.

 First, about those high-flying startups. According to recent research from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation , fast-growing relatively young firms generate about 10 percent of all new jobs in any given year.  That includes what the study calls "gazelle" firms--enterprises three to five years old. And, these ventures create all those jobs even though they're less than 1 percent of all companies.  The average firm in the top 1 percent contributes 88 jobs per year; most end up producing between 20 and 249 employees. The average firm in the economy as a whole adds two or three net new jobs each year.