If anyone’s counting on start-up companies to spur massive job creation, they might want to rethink that. While the number of start-ups has increased or held steady during the recession, companies are launching with fewer employees than they did ten years ago, thanks to technology.

With web-based tools, as well as the ability to rent, share or outsource, start-ups are launching leaner than before, according to Steve King, a partner at Emergent Research, a research and consulting firm for small businesses. And these changes might be permanent. Further, according to a Zoomerang survey of 500 small companies, more of these firms are also using cloud computing to manage the bulk of their email communications, data storage, and customer service needs.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal ^[1].