Startup Sentiment Data Shows Franchise Seekers Leaving Full-time Jobs and Planning Launches in 2025
By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights
February 12, 2025 – The rising trend in near-term intentions to start businesses bodes well for franchise development in 2025. In late December surveys, 63.4% of aspiring business owners either agreed or strongly agreed that “now is a good time to start a business,” showing optimism about conditions now and in the near future. In the same survey, 90.0% of respondents see conditions for business and franchise startups “the same or better in three months.”
In January 2025, 63.4% of respondents agreed that it’s a good time to start a business.”
Of this month’s respondents, 53.3% of entrepreneurs planned their startups within the next three months. Further, 48.3% 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.
90.0% Are Optimistic About Business Conditions Three Months Out
Additional highlights:
- Future business conditions: Reversing a pandemic-induced multi-year downtrend in sentiment about future business conditions, 90.0% of respondents see conditions no worse – staying the same or getting better in three months. This month only one out of ten respondents see conditions getting worse or much worse in three months.
- Access to funding: Almost two-thirds (64.2%) of entrepreneurs were concerned about finding adequate funding, and those who see funding “harder or much harder” to obtain in the next three months rose to 27.5% of respondents. After seven months of “political changes” holding third place among concerns, it dropped to fourth place in January.
- Demographics: 53.% of these franchise-seeking survey respondents, are currently employed full-time, closer to the record 61.7% in June 2024 as we reported last week. Another 10.9% of respondents were current business owners seeking an additional or replacement business. Freelancers and consultants were 24.2%, followed by part-timers at 10.8%. Gen-X remains the largest share, at 55.6% of respondents, pulling back from the record 63.9% seen in June 2024. Boomers had a strong showing at 24.1%, followed by the Gen-Y or Millennial age cohort at 17.6% of respondents. Gen-Z were 2% of respondents, below the 3.9% average in 2024.
Funding is perennially the biggest concern, and only 23.3% of respondents think financing will be easier in three months.
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 Monday, February 17th, 2025.