February Startup Sentiment Index™ Shows Entrepreneurs Advancing Timelines

Over 60% Surveyed Intend to Start Within Three Months

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In February, entrepreneurs expressing intent to start or buy “this month” rose to a record 31.2% of respondents, by far the highest on record, and indexing at 218% of January 2020. Startups planned for the “next 2-3 months” grew to 28.9% in the FranchiseInsights.com Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ (SSI) of individuals who have recently inquired about businesses for sale.

The survey was conducted February 25-28, 2021, just as the FDA approved emergency Use Authorization of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose Covid-19 vaccine, and interest rates on US treasury bonds began the recent uptick.

Additional highlights:

Future business conditions: Respondents were more optimistic, with almost 50% of respondents believing that in three months, business conditions will be “better” or “much better” than now, up from 44.4% in January, 2021.
Access to funding: Entrepreneurs’ concerns abated some, with those seeing funding “harder or much harder” to obtain dropping back to 33.1% in February from January from 37.6% in January. Nonetheless, a record 75.1% of respondents indicated that “funding” was the biggest barrier to their business startup plans.
Demographics: 52.7% of respondents are currently employed full-time (highest since August of 2020), and 16% are current business owners. While Gen-X (52.1%) and Gen-Y (27.2%) are the highest percentage of survey respondents, “Baby Boomers” at 18.3% remain in third place.

The Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ is derived from a monthly survey of individuals who have recently inquired about businesses or franchises for sale on the digital assets of FranchiseVentures, and measures business-buyer sentiment on more than a dozen factors.

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 Tuesday, March 9th, 2021.