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Small Business Finance in the United States Volume 1: Startups 2005
Mintel, May 2005, Pages: 105
The Office of Advocacy defines a small business for research purposes as “an independent business having fewer than 500 employees.” For the purpose of this report, we also considers a small business to be a business with less than 500 employees, and has conducted its exclusive commissioned research with that size as a guideline for its respondent base.
This report includes start-up small businesses, which have been in business for less than five years. This report does not include established small business, which have been in business for five or more years. Established small businesses are examined in US Small Business Volume 2, due to publish in June 2005.
In order to understand more about what types of businesses are currently being started in the US, we conducted a survey of 536 US adults who own or manage small businesses that have been in business for less than five years. We interviewed each respondent, asking questions such as:
How was your businesss startup financed at the beginning?
Does your business currently have any accounts with at least one full-service bank?
Do you have a specific contact at the bank who deals with all of your banking needs?
Which accounts or services does your business currently have?
New businesses seem to want to exhaust their own resources before tapping others, according to the survey. Over two thirds used savings to finance at least part of their business, and 26% used credit cards. A small but significant segment borrowed, either from a bank, friends and family or both.
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