By Andrew Miller
New business owners are starting out with bigger checkbooks than they used to.
According to Guidant Financial’s 2026 survey of small business owners, 31.6% started a new venture with over $500,000 in capital, up from 27.5% in 2025. In addition, those who started with $1 million or more climbed even faster, up 3.6 points.
However, starting with more money up front hasn’t made things easier once the doors open.
The cost of entry has risen in many industries, like food service, retail, and franchising. Construction costs, expensive equipment, and pricy commercial real estate all put pressure on launching a new business.
On the bright side, inflation concerns eased this year. Only 41.3% of owners cited rising prices as a challenge, down sharply from 48.0% in 2025. But that drop didn’t translate to relief everywhere. Cash flow and capital access actually got worse, ticking up to 40.8% from 39.7%.
In other words, prices are stabilizing, but businesses are still struggling to access and hold onto cash. Guidant points to the Federal Reserve’s rate policy as the reason: borrowing costs remain high, and that’s eating into margins for any business carrying debt.
As a result, owners are shifting how they cover costs. Personal cash funded 34.2% of new businesses, down from 36.1% a year earlier. SBA loans, paired with other financing, showed up in 22.6% of startups. More owners are now leaning on outside financing instead of savings alone.
Despite the pressure, 80.8% of owners expect their business to survive hurdles like inflation, tariffs, high interest rates, and market fluctuations.
Nearly half plan on increasing staff and investing in digital marketing.
There’s also a brand-new data point for 2026: 18.7% of owners plan to invest in AI resources. AI tools that can perform scheduling, customer service, inventory management, and marketing automation have become accessible to a wider audience.
Finally, the most encouraging result from the study is the business happiness score. For the second year in a row, the score held at a weighted average of 3.97 out of 5. Three quarters of respondents said they feel somewhat or very happy as business owners. On the other hand, only 11.9% expressed any degree of unhappiness.
Despite a turbulent year, most business owners are pushing ahead regardless of whatever challenge arises next.
P.S. If your next challenge is finding capital, Signet can get you funded in as little as 24 hours. Let’s talk about your options.