Aspiring Business Owners See Near-Term Startup Conditions Staying About The Same, but Political Concerns Rise

By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights

June 5, 2024 – Almost 58% of aspiring business owners either agree or strongly agree that “now is a good time to start a business,” with optimism about conditions ahead, though trending down slightly since January. In the May survey,  over 88% of respondents see conditions for business and franchise startups “the same or better in three months.” 

Of this month’s respondents, 49.4% of entrepreneurs planned their startups within the next three months, down from 60.2% last month. Further, 67.5% of entrepreneurs surveyed say they are “more or much more likely to launch their startups than three months ago.”

FranchiseInsights.com compiles monthly the Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ (SSI) of individuals who have recently inquired about businesses for sale. The most recent Startup Sentiment Index™ survey was conducted May 23-31, 2024. 

‘Political changes’ rise among prospect concerns to third from fifth in the prior month.

Additional highlights:

• Future business conditions: Reversing a multi-year downtrend in sentiment about future business conditions, over 88% of respondents see conditions no worse – staying the same or getting better in three months– with 69.9% seeing conditions “about the same” as now, which they view as good. This month only 12% see conditions getting worse.
• Access to funding: The percentage of entrepreneurs concerned about finding  adequate funding dropped to 57.8%, and those who see funding “harder or much harder” to obtain in the next three months grew to 18.1% of respondents. But “political changes” rose to third among concerns, up from fifth in April.
• Demographics: Of the survey respondents, 39.8% are currently employed full-time, down from the high of 58.6% seen in October 2021. Current business owners made up 16.9% of respondents were current business owners seeking an additional or replacement business. Freelancers and consultants were 22.9%, followed by part-timers at 19.3%, significantly up from 6.9% in October 2023. The Gen-X cohort was largest at 38.8% of respondents, and Millennials were 27.5%. Baby Boomers grew for the second month to 28.8% in May, and Gen-Z were 4% of respondents.

Download a copy of the latest FranchiseInsights.com Small Business Startup Sentiment report here. See excerpts from prior SSI™ surveys and subscribe to receive the Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ monthly report when it is released.

The Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ is based on a monthly survey of individuals who have recently inquired about businesses or franchises for sale on the FranchiseVentures lead generation platform.

Franchise Ventures is the leading franchise lead-generation platform for potential franchisees to thousands of growing franchise systems in the United States and Canada. Its franchise lead generation brands include Franchise.com, Franchise Solutions, Franchise Gator, Franchise Opportunities, Franchise For Sale, SmallBusinessStartup.com and BusinessBroker.net, and together they provide the largest aggregation of prospective franchise buyers in the U.S.

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Published on Wednesday, June 5th, 2024.