Timelines Compressed and More Full-Time Employees Seeking Franchises Amid Startup Sentiment Dip

By: Michael Alston for Franchise Insights

February 4, 2026 – Business buyer surveys in the last week of January 2026 showed a record low 30% of persons exploring ownership agree or strongly agree that “now is a good time for startup”, down from 42.9% in December and the lowest in our survey history. Despite their own perceptions of the current business climate, this hearty group of individuals is pursuing dreams of business ownership while others pause.

This lower sentiment about business conditions mirrors consumer confidence dropping sharply in January’s Conference Board survey, to a level “surpassing pandemic depths.”

To complete the picture though, half (50%) of respondents “neither agreed nor disagreed” with the statement “now is a good time for starting a business”, reflecting either no opinion or lack of data for forming an opinion. Only 15.6% “disagreed” and 4.4% “strongly disagreed.”

At the same time 66.7% say they are more likely to start a business now than three months ago.

With respect to future conditions, 50.0% of respondents to the monthly sentiment survey see business conditions “about the same” in three months, with another 30.0% seeing them “better” or “much better” in three months.

While only 30% of respondents agree that “now is a good time to start”, 66.7% say they are more likely to start a business than three months ago.

Of this month’s respondents, 54% of entrepreneurs planned their startups within the next three months, just under the recent high of 64.3% in the April 2025 survey. It appears that the seasonal cycle of individuals doing their research for anticipated launches after the holidays is alive, with 69.3% of respondents in January expecting their launches within the next six months. The percentage of entrepreneurs planning their startups within the coming year stood at 77.9%.

In the January 2026 Small Business Startup Sentiment Index™ survey,66.7% of respondents said they are “more or much more likely to launch their startups than three months ago,” up from 55.6% in December, but off the recent high of 73.2% in November.

Additional Survey highlights:

Future business conditions: Despite the uncertainty of tariff effects and policy changes ahead, 80% of respondents see conditions no worse – staying the same or getting better – in three months. Accordingly, only 20% of respondents are worried that conditions will be “worse or much worse” in three months.
Access to funding: 78.9% of entrepreneurs were concerned about finding adequate funding (the top concern), up from the record low 53.1% of September 2024. On the other hand, those who see funding “harder or much harder” to obtain in the next three months were 38.9%, close to December’s 39.7% of respondents. “Economic climate” was the second most common concern (42.2%), followed by “tax law changes” (20%) and “political changes” (17.8%).
Current Employment: Of these survey respondents, 50.0% are currently employed full-time. Another 12.2% of respondents were current business owners seeking an additional or replacement business. Freelancers and consultants were 22.2%, while part-timers were also at 15.6%, and less than 1% were active military.
Age Cohorts: Gen-X remains the largest share, at 48.8% of respondents, down from the record 63.9% seen in June 2024. Boomers had a strong showing again this month at 22.2%, but below the 26.8% who were Gen-Y (Millennials), the largest cohort in the adult population, but years away from the peak age for business ownership. Gen-Z were 2.4%, and the “Silent Generation” had no respondents.

In January, 50% of respondents were leaving full-time employment, the highest percentage in over eight months.

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 January 25-31, 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, February 3rd, 2026.