Most Entrepreneurs Start with Limited Funds, No Business Plan
A new survey shows three out of four businesses are funded from personal savings.
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.
