Bluevine Study Shows Surging Interests in Entrepreneurship as U.S. Layoffs Continue

78.9% of Americans say it's a good time to start a business; 65 % of recently laid off Americans are actively planning to start a new business

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Sept. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A new study published today by Bluevine–the largest digital banking platform for small business in the U.S.*–found that despite economic volatility and a softening jobs market, 80 percent of Americans think it's a good time to start a new business, with nearly 2 in 3 of recently laid off Americans saying they are very interested and/or actively planning on starting a new business. The study findings–derived from a survey of 1,040 Americans–are notable, particularly given recent headlines around the floundering job growth and widespread layoffs that have affected professionals in America over the last year.

Our survey findings across the past two years have consistently found that prospective and current small business owners in America are maintaining an overwhelming sense of confidence," said Bluevine CEO and Co-Founder Eyal Lifshitz. "Our findings consistently demonstrate that some of the biggest desires of current and prospective business owners revolve around making it easier to access capital and having simple financial tools to make managing their day-to-day tasks easier."

The largest blockers survey respondents listed when asked what is preventing them from starting their own business were economic uncertainty (47.9% of respondents), fear of failure (39.9% of respondents), fear around the unpredictable income that comes with starting a business (38.5% of respondents), and lack of savings (36.9% of respondents).

As for what would make those hesitant to start new businesses more likely to start their entrepreneurship journey, the single largest factor–per survey respondents–was lower interest funding. Nearly 59% of respondents said that access to startup funding or lower interest funding would make them more likely to take the leap into starting their own business. In that same vein, and particularly relevant with multiple Fed rate cuts expected in the next two years: More than 83% of respondents said that if lending rates decrease by 1% within the next 18 months, they will be more likely to start their own business.

"It's encouraging to see an upwelling in interest in small business ownership, especially among those who have had layoffs affect their professional journey," said Lifshitz. "We started Bluevine as a way to make small business ownership more accessible to anyone. Seeing a potential groundswell of new small business owners who might take the leap into entrepreneurship as cost of capital improves  could be transformative for economies across the US."

Other key findings from the poll include:

Americans are overwhelmingly positive on entrepreneurship (especially if they've been laid off):

• 78.9% of respondents said now is a good time to start a business.
• Among respondents who'd been laid off in the past 1–2 years, 64.9% said they are very interested or actively making plans now to launch a business. Among respondents who hadn't been impacted by layoffs, 42.7% expressed interest in starting a business.

Fast money movement and access to credit dominate business banking wishlists:

• The biggest desire for business banking features among survey respondents was fast payment processing and availability, with 56.2% saying it's important to them
• Easy access to credit lines/loans was the second most important factor at 54.5%
• 24/7 customer service and no monthly maintenance fees were third and fourth (38.2% and 37.7%, respectively) highlighting the need for simplicity in small business banking services.

Barrier to entry? Economic uncertainty is a top worry:

• 47.9% selected economic uncertainty as their top barrier to starting a business.
• Fear of failure (40%) and unpredictable income (38.5%) were also significant hindrances.
• 25% of survey respondents selected "Loss of benefits (health insurance/retirement)" as a concern.
• Advanced degree holders are more than 30% more likely to start a business than those without degrees.

Layoffs correlate with strong interest in starting a business:

• Among respondents who'd been laid off in the past 1–2 years, 64.9% said they are "Very interested — actively making plans now." Among respondents who hadn't been impacted, that figure is 42.7%.
• If impacted within the past 12 months, 73.8% are very interested now.
• If impacted 1–2 years ago: 51.3% very interested.
• If not impacted: 42.7% very interested.

The demographic divide–men and younger adults are more likely to express strong interest & optimism:

• 62.1% of men are "very interested" vs 46.9% of women
• Interest is highest among 25–34 (58%) and 35–44 (56%); older groups show lower rates (55+ at 46.1%).

For additional information on the study, read about it on Bluevine's blog, here.

Methodology
This poll was conducted by Centiment Audience between August 26^th– August 28^th, 2025 among a sample of 1,040 US-based individuals who have researched business ownership in the past five years for Bluevine between August 26 and August 28, 2025. Data is unweighted, and the margin of error is approximately +/-3% for the overall sample with a 95% confidence level.

*As compared to publicly available data on the number of lifetime customer accounts held by other U.S. banking platforms dedicated to small business, as of March 2025.

About Bluevine
Bluevine  is the largest small business banking platform in the U.S., serving as the financial operating system for startups and small businesses. Through a single account, companies can earn more, save more, borrow, and manage their money whenever and wherever they do business - without ever stepping into a branch. Accessible through one dashboard, its product suite integrates high-yield business checking, accounts payable, debit and credit cards, loans, and lines of credit. Since 2013, Bluevine has served over 750,000 customers, delivered over $17 billion in loans, and is currently trusted with over $1.5 billion in managed customer deposits.

Bluevine is backed by leading private and institutional investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, 83North, Citi Ventures, ION Crossover Partners, SVB Capital, Nationwide Insurance, and M12 (Microsoft's Venture Arm). Bluevine is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking Services provided by Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC. Lines of credit are issued by Celtic Bank. For more information, please visit bluevine.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and X.

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SOURCE Bluevine