Participation of employers in the small group Marketplaces, or Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP), has started very slowly. The reasons for this are largely consistent across the states, and many of them lend themselves to reversal or improvement. Significant challenges remain, but it would be inappropriate to judge the long term prospects of SHOP merely on its first-year experiences. This analysis of early implementation experiences is based on case study interviews in eight states: Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Rhode Island. Interviews were conducted with a broad array of stakeholders in each state.