Entrepreneur Confidence Index at All-Time High
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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.