IncBizNet

Resource Centers

Special Sections

Departments

Businesses for SaleFranchise Directory

Newsletters

Help Me...

Breaking Entrepreneurial News
Most Popular Most E-mailed  
ARTICLE ALERT
Get stories by e-mail on this topic.

Finance & Capital | RSS
Personal & Professional Growth | RSS
Finance & Capital | RSS

Select your preferred newsletter format: text html

Enter e-mail address:

Most Entrepreneurs Start with Limited Funds, No Business Plan

A new survey shows three out of four businesses are funded from personal savings.

By: Leslie Taylor

Published August 30, 2006

Small-business owners get their start with an average of just $10,000 in initial capital, according to the latest Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index.

Close to three-quarter of businesses (73%) were primarily funded by the owner's personal savings, while 37% were funded in part by loans and lines of credit.

"The survey results provide us with real insight into what it takes to start and run a small business, and what many small-business owners wish they had at the onset -- more capital and more financial management education," Rebecca Macieira-Kaufmann, executive vice president and head of the Wells Fargo's small-business unit, said in a statement.

While more than half of the approximately 600 business owners surveyed said it would have been easier to start their companies had more money been available, start-up financing was not the only challenge they identified.

Forty-nine percent of respondents said advice from other business owners also would have made their start-up days easier, while 39% said a better understanding of financial management would have helped.

Only 31% of small business owners surveyed started with business plans.

 

« Get more advice every month. Click here to subscribe to Inc. magazine!

 
Sound Off
 Total of 0 Reader Comments
 No comments have been posted yet.  
Add your own comments

Try a RISK-FREE Issue of Inc. Today!

Renew | Contact Us | Current Issue

Magazine Cover

Select Services

Apply for the Inc. 5,000