New Survey of Triangle Entrepreneurs Shows Optimism

North Carolina State University has launched a new quarterly survey to measure the outlook of Triangle entrepreneurs – and the initial results show significant optimism for increased revenue, spending and employment well into spring 2015.

“The goal of the Quarterly Outlook of Triangle Entrepreneurs (QuOTE) survey is to help entrepreneurial companies and state and local government officials in the Triangle anticipate business decisions and plan for growth,” says Dr. Jeff Pollack, the assistant professor of management, innovation and entrepreneurship in the Poole College of Management at NC State who developed the survey.

In the initial set of results, 86.9 percent of the 199 Triangle-area entrepreneurs who were surveyed expected an increase in revenue over the next six months – while only 4 percent anticipated revenue declines. Meanwhile, 60.3 percent of respondents expected to hire new employees over the next six months, as opposed to 2.5 percent who anticipated decreases in staff. And 55.8 percent predicted an increase in domestic capital spending, with 5.5 percent anticipating spending cuts.

“The optimism found in the survey confirms what we hear from entrepreneurs on the street,” says Lewis Sheats, senior lecturer of entrepreneurship in Poole College and the director of the NC State Entrepreneurship Clinic. “This outlook continues to drive growth and value creation for our community.”

“The survey also found that ‘growing too slowly’ is a concern, with 56.7 percent of the entrepreneurs surveyed citing it as an issue for their businesses,” Pollack says. “Recruiting talent in operations, management and marketing was the second most common concern, with 50 percent reporting it as a potential problem.”

A full report on the findings is available online at http://tec.poole.ncsu.edu/engaging/quote-results/. Anyone interested in receiving email updates regarding future quarterly survey findings can contact the organizers at TheEClinic@ncsu.edu.

The QuOTE survey is conducted by the NC State Entrepreneurship Clinic. The survey is adapted from a similar national survey of large national companies that is conducted by the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of American companies.

The Entrepreneurship Clinic plans to expand the survey. Triangle entrepreneurs who would like to participate should email their name, business and email address to TheEClinic@ncsu.edu. Participation is free and responses are confidential.

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