I'm afraid I have to disagree here. As someone who runs a small business which, for not-immediately-relevant reasons isn't in a position to try for startup-style explosive growth, I'd be really interested in hearing about how people in similar situations run their business. Regarding your examples of plumbers, barbers and cafes, we all think we know exactly how to run these, and in our heads probably think it's a pretty simple thing. What if we're wrong and there's something to learn?
I believe that businesses in this space are run with old-fashioned tools (management methods, process optimisation techniques, technology) for reasons of tradition and lack of information sharing rather than anything inherent to the businesses themselves. My experiences with business growth accelerators leads me to believe we as a community re-invent the wheel an enormous amount, and anything that helps me reduce that is of interest.
Sure, we have a different metric for success, but that doesn't mean there aren't unusually successful small businesses (that will remain comparatively small) that might have something interesting to say.
I believe that businesses in this space are run with old-fashioned tools (management methods, process optimisation techniques, technology) for reasons of tradition and lack of information sharing rather than anything inherent to the businesses themselves. My experiences with business growth accelerators leads me to believe we as a community re-invent the wheel an enormous amount, and anything that helps me reduce that is of interest.
Sure, we have a different metric for success, but that doesn't mean there aren't unusually successful small businesses (that will remain comparatively small) that might have something interesting to say.