SBA Loans and Personal Savings Lead Sources Expected for Funding Business Startups

Virginia, US, 21st March 2022, ZEXPRWIRE, Most aspiring business buyers plan to use Small Business Administration loans and personal savings to start their businesses, at 48.9% and 45% respectively, according to the latest FranchiseInsights.com Small Business Startup Sentiment Index survey. Loans from banks or other lending institutions were identified as the third most common source at 39.8%. The percentages add up to more than 100% since respondents were instructed to choose their top three sources.

The “other” option was chosen by about 11% of respondents. The top “other” sources cited were “funds from a business partner” and “crowdfunding”, which will be choices added to future surveys.

By aggregating sources into two buckets, we see that entrepreneurs are assuming that about one third (33.8%) of startup capital sources will be personal. The remaining 66.2% of sources will come from outside their balance sheets. “Other” sources were excluded from this view.

Personal Sources – for this analysis include personal savings, retirement funds (401K or IRA), credit cards, cash value insurance policies, and liquidation of securities. Though home equity lines of credit are technically a loan secured by the home, it was included for this analysis since it represents buyer equity.

Outside Sources – include Small Business Association (SBA) loans, banks or other loan providers, franchisor financing, venture capital, angel investors, and friends and family.

Undoubtedly the reliance on debt sources for startup capital is related to the decades-low interest rates in the United States. It will be interesting to see how this changes in future surveys as the Federal Reserve begins tightening through interest rates and reduction in its balance sheet holdings of government debt over time.

The most recent Startup Sentiment Index survey was conducted February 24-28, 2022, as news of the invasion of Ukraine made global headlines. 

“Personal savings of aspiring business owners grew through the pandemic,” says Hunter Stokes, president of FranchiseVentures. “Entrepreneurs plan to supplement these savings with loans at historically low rates.”

The 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 digital assets of FranchiseVentures. See excerpts from prior SSI surveys and subscribe to receive the Small Business Startup Sentiment Index monthly report when it is released.

About Franchise Insights

A unit of FranchiseVentures, FranchiseInsights.com provides research and intelligence to help the franchise industry and investors understand and meet the needs of budding entrepreneurs who want to own their own businesses. With a vast and growing proprietary data set of U.S. franchise inquiries, we use the tools of data science to make inferences and discover best practices to foster the growth of small businesses.

FranchiseVentures is the leading demand generation platform for aspiring business buyers and franchisees to thousands of growing franchise systems in the United States and Canada. Its franchise lead generation brands include Franchise.com, FranchiseSolutions.com, FranchiseGator.com, FranchiseOpportunities.com, FranchiseForSale.com, SmallBusinessStartup.com and BusinessBroker.net, and together they provide the largest aggregation of prospective business and franchise buyers in the U.S.

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