Startup Sentiment Dips, But Remains Solid On Business Conditions For Early 2026

By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights

November 5, 2025 – Business buyer surveys in the last week of October 2025 showed 43.9% of persons exploring ownership agree or strongly agreed that “now is a good time for startup”, down significantly from the 84.5% record set in March 2025.

On the other hand, consumer confidence was steady in October’s Conference Board survey, though trending down slightly over the last several months.

Further, almost 51% of respondents to the monthly sentiment survey see business conditions “about the same” in three months, with another 23% seeing them “better” or “much better” in early 2026.

About 74% of respondents see business conditions “about the same” or “better or much better” in the next three months.

Of this month’s respondents, 41.0% of entrepreneurs planned their startups within the next three months, down from the recent high of 64.3% in the April 2025 survey. It is typical in the fall to see persons doing their research for anticipated launches after the holidays, and in October 62.3% expected their launches within the next six months. The percentage of entrepreneurs planning their startups within the coming year stood at 72.1%, a record low, meaning that 27.9% are planning their startups longer than twelve months out.

In the October 2025 Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ survey, 54.1% of respondents said they are “more or much more likely to launch their startups than three months ago,” down from 65.9% in September.

Additional Survey highlights:

Future business conditions: Despite the uncertainty of tariff effects and policy changes ahead, 74% of respondents see conditions no worse – staying the same or getting better – in three months. Accordingly, 26.2% of respondents see conditions getting “worse or much worse” in three months.
Access to funding: 62.3% of entrepreneurs were concerned about finding adequate funding (the top concern), not far from the record low 53.1% seen in September 2024. On the other hand, those who see funding “harder or much harder” to obtain in the next three months rose to 42.6% of respondents. “Regulatory changes” was the third most cited concern.
Current Employment: Of these survey respondents, 36.1% are currently employed full-time, below the record 61.7% for this survey in June 2024. Another 23% of respondents were current business owners seeking an additional or replacement business. Freelancers and consultants soared to tie full-time workers at 27.9%, part-timers were 13.1%, and less than 1% were active military.
Age Cohorts: Gen-X remains the largest share, at 54.5% of respondents, not far from the record 63.9% seen in June 2024. Boomers had a strong showing again this month at 20%, tying with Gen-Y (Millennials) who are the largest cohort in the adult population, but not at the peak age for business ownership. Gen-Z were at a recent high of 5.5%, and “Silent Generation” was less than1% of respondents.

In October, 23% of respondents were current business owners seeking an additional or replacement business.

The FranchiseInsights.com Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ (SSI) 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. This survey was conducted October 23-31, 2025.

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, November 4th, 2025.