Funding and Political Concerns Drop Among Aspiring Business Owners

By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights

December 3, 2024 – Now 68.9% of aspiring business owners surveyed either agree or strongly agree that “now is a good time to start a business,” showing optimism about conditions now and ahead. In the November 2024 survey, 86.9% of respondents see conditions for business and franchise startups “the same or better in three months.” 

Of this month’s respondents, 54.1% of entrepreneurs planned their startups within the next three months. Further, 70.5% of entrepreneurs surveyed say they are “more or much more likely to launch their startups than three months ago.”

FranchiseInsights.com compiles a monthly Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ (SSI) of individuals who have recently inquired about franchises or businesses for sale.

In late November, the highest share of respondents (36.1%) were targeting January and February for getting their startups underway.

Additional highlights:

• Future business conditions: Reversing a pandemic-induced multi-year downtrend in sentiment about future business conditions, 86.9% of respondents (92.7% in September) see conditions no worse – staying the same or getting better in three months– with 48.0% seeing conditions “about the same” as now, which they view as good. This month only 13.1% see conditions getting worse or much worse.
• Access to funding: Over two-thirds (67.2%) of entrepreneurs were concerned about finding adequate funding, and those who see funding “harder or much harder” to obtain in the next three months stood at 23% of respondents. After six months in a row at third place, “political changes” dropped to last place, with the election resolved in an orderly manner long before the survey was conducted.
• Demographics: Of the survey respondents, 41.0% are currently employed full-time, down from the record 61.7% in June.  Another 9.8% of respondents were current business owners seeking an additional or replacement business. Freelancers and consultants were 34.4%, followed by part-timers at 14.8%. This month less than 1% of the aspiring entrepreneurs in the survey were on active military duty. The Gen-X cohort was at 43.6% of respondents, down from the record 63.9% seen in June. Boomers followed at 27.3%, and the Gen-Y or Millennial age cohort made up 25.5% of respondents, with Gen-Z less than one percent.

While funding is perennially the biggest concern, 41% of respondents think financing will be easier in three months. 

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 Franchise Ventures 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, December 4th, 2024.