A survey commissioned by Exit Factor found 64% of U.S. small-business owners had at least half their net worth tied to their firms, while just 15% had a written exit plan.
In an Oct. 15 announcement, Exit Factor said 57% were very or completely reliant on selling their business or continuing to take income from it to finance their next life stage. The company commissioned Researchscape International to conduct the survey.
The results point to a gap between confidence and preparation. Although 52% said they were very or completely confident they could complete a successful exit if they started the next day, 33% had taken no steps to prepare. Eighteen percent had drafted a written timeline, and 15% had a formal written exit plan.
Owners also used different methods to estimate their companies’ value. Thirty-five percent relied on an estimate from an adviser or broker, 27% used their own rough assessment and 18% had a current paid professional valuation. Separately, 23% said their business had been formally valued, a different measure reported in the study results.
Reasons for putting off plans included the demands of running a business and the personal difficulty of leaving it. Exit Factor reported that 47% felt it was too soon to plan a transition, 29% pointed to daily operational demands and 25% cited the emotional challenge of letting go. The study page also says 44% had been affected in their planning by uncertainty about what they would be or do without the business.
Exit Factor President Peter Giese said, “An exit is both a business transition and a personal transition.” The company offers business-value enhancement and exit-planning services.
Researchscape surveyed 1,104 owners online from Aug. 24 to Sept. 11, 2026. Respondents were sole owners or founders, or co-owners with significant decision-making authority, at businesses with one to 99 employees. The study describes the responses as unweighted estimates from a non-probability sample, so they do not establish a statistically representative estimate for all U.S. small businesses.
