Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Business startups in the US grew to over 4 million in 2020, according to the Peterson Institute. Technology has leveled the playing field and now gives more businesses the opportunity to expand online. As the economy reopens and consumer demands increase, entrepreneurs have the chance to establish themselves. Small businesses across America are revalidating the essential lesson of Charles Darwin and driving the post-crisis economic rebound in the process. The term "small business" covers half the American workforce, in tens of millions of companies that made it through the darkest days of the pandemic. It sweeps in more than 4 million owners who chose to start a new venture in 2020 — the largest single-year increase in new business originations in at least a decade, and perhaps ever, according to data from the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Soon to follow are all the entrepreneurs who are watching a post-crisis world take shape and preparing to place that proverbial bet on themselves.