Startup Sentiment Dips, But Over 62 Percent of Prospective Business Buyers Still See Now as a Good Time to Start

NORFOLK, VIRGINIA — October, 5, 2022 — A lower percentage of entrepreneurs see “now” as ideal for launching their businesses than any time in the past year. Nonetheless, 62.2% of aspiring business owners either agree or strongly agree that “now is a good time to start a business”, down from the recent  high of 73.5% in February, 2022.

• Record low percentage of 3.9% say they are “putting their plans on hold”
• 22.5% of respondents are already business owners – the highest percentage in more than a year

FranchiseInsights.com compiles monthly the Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ (SSI) of individuals who have recently inquired about businesses for sale.  Fewer see business conditions improving in three months. Nonetheless, 81.4% see conditions for business startups “the same or better in three months” and only 18.6% expect conditions to worsen. In September, 51.9% of entrepreneurs planned their startups within the next three months, down from August’s recent high of 69.2%. 

The most recent Startup Sentiment Index™ survey was conducted August 25-31, 2022. 

Additional highlights:

• Future business conditions: While most respondents see conditions “about the same” for startups (58.1%), the declining trend of those seeing future conditions better and increase in those seeing future conditions worse may be cause for concern in the coming months, consistent with national surveys of consumer and business confidence.
• Access to funding: The percentage of entrepreneurs concerned about finding  adequate funding rose to 74.2%, with those seeing funding “harder or much harder” to obtain in the next three months rising to 42.3%.
• Demographics: 42.6% of respondents were currently employed full-time, and 22.5% were current business owners seeking an additional business. Gen-X (53.9%) and Gen-Y “Millennials” (26.6%) were the largest age cohorts, and “Baby Boomers” grew to 16.4% of respondents. Gen-Z trailed at 3.1%.

Download a copy of the September 2022 FranchiseInsights.com SSI 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 digital assets of FranchiseVentures.

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Published on Tuesday, October 4th, 2022.