Entrepreneur Confidence Index at All-Time High

While no one knows what the future will bring, many key players in the startup world are feeling pretty good about the coming year.

According to the Q2 Kauffman/LegalZoom Startup Confidence Index, startup optimism is at an all-time high, with 85% of survey respondents expressing confidence that their businesses will be more profitable in the next 12 months. This reading is a one-percent increase over the Q1 survey.

And the younger the entrepreneur, the rosier the outlook: a whopping 93% of 18 to 30-year-olds say they are confident or very confident in greater profitability, compared to 76% of business owners in the 60+ age group.

In addition to feeling good about their personal prospects for success, entrepreneurs are also expressing optimism about the economy at large. According to the survey, 74% of startup owners are confident the economy will improve or stay the same – a 9% jump since the last reading.

"In this survey, conviction about the future seems to translate into a higher intention to hire, signaling a promising year for job growth,” says John Suh, CEO of LegalZoom.

While higher optimism hasn’t always led to more hiring, the survey shows that 37% of startups plan to add employees, up from 32% last quarter, says Suh.

The Kauffman/LegalZoom index is based on responses from 1,742 startups that formed companies using LegalZoom services within the last six months.