Business Owners Are Record Share of Prospects Seeking Franchises

By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights

August 6, 2025 – Owners of current businesses were almost 28% of franchise seekers responding to the FranchiseInsights.com July Startup Sentiment survey, beating the previous record of 25.5% July 2021, and following a strong showing last month at 23.9%. The types of businesses owned ranged from import/export, to car repair, restaurants and accounting services.

Recently we wrote about franchise-seekers who are business owners, and the types of enterprises they already own.

In the July Startup Sentiment survey, 27.7% of respondents were current business owners seeking a franchise.

The percentage of entrepreneurs planning their startups within the coming year stood at 83.1%. Of this month’s respondents, 53.8% of entrepreneurs planned their startups within the next three months, near the recent high of 64.3% in the April 2025 survey. Additionally, 67.7% plan their launches within the next six months.

In the July 2025 Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ survey, 63.1% of respondents said they are “more or much more likely to launch their startups than three months ago,” down from the 76.1% for the same measure in the prior month.

Surveys in the last week of July 2025 showed 66.2% of persons exploring ownership agree or strongly agreed that “now is a good time for startup”, following the 84.5% record set in March. In this month’s survey, 83.1% of respondents see conditions for business and franchise startups “the same or better in three months.”

Upbeat business startup sentiment correlates with the surge in business applications we have noted in recent months. Measures of consumer confidence also improved in July, with the Conference Board and the University of Michigan survey showing modest increases.

Boomers tied Millennials at 25.9% among survey respondents, though Gen-X was the most prevalent age cohort at 44.8%.

Additional highlights:

Future business conditions: Despite the uncertainty of tariff effects and policy changes ahead, 83.1% of respondents see conditions no worse – staying the same or getting better – in three months. Similarly, only 16.9% of respondents see conditions getting “worse or much worse” in three months.
Access to funding: 63.1% of entrepreneurs were concerned about finding adequate funding (the top concern), and those who see funding “harder or much harder” to obtain in the next three months dipped to 23.9% of respondents. “Political changes” tied with “regulatory changes” tied for third behind “economic climate” as concerns.
Current Employment: Of these survey respondents, 40% are currently employed full-time, below the record 61.7% for this survey in June 2024. Another 27.7% of respondents were current business owners seeking an additional or replacement business, a new record high for this measure. Freelancers and consultants were 18.5%, part-timers were 13%, and less than 1% were active military.
Age Cohorts: Gen-X remains the largest share, at 44.8% of respondents, compared to the record 63.9% seen in June 2024. Boomers had a strong showing at 25.9%, and tied with the Gen-Y (Millennials) who are the largest cohort in the adult population, but not at the peak age for business ownership. Gen-Z and the “Silent Generation” were under 2% each.

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 July 24-31, 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, August 5th, 2025.