5.7 Million New Businesses: What the Boom Means If You Want to Buy or Sell a Business

Last year Americans filed a record 5.7 million new business applications which is the most the Census Bureau has ever recorded. Remote work started it, AI poured gas on it. Nearly 60% of new founders say they used AI to launch, and half say it made starting cheaper and faster.

I've started businesses. Shredding, landscaping, commercial cleaning. I sold all three, and now I broker business sales for a living. So when I see 5.7 million people raising their hands to become owners, I see a lot of people about to learn what I learned the hard way: starting was never the hard part.

Filing an LLC takes twenty minutes. The hard part is year two, when the excitement is gone and you're competing against someone who's been doing this since before you had a logo.

Starting a Business Is Easier Than Ever…and More Crowded

When the barrier to entry drops, everybody enters. AI can write your website, your ads, your operating agreement. Great. It wrote everyone else's too.

Roughly half of new businesses don't survive five years, and a flood of new entrants doesn't improve those odds. What AI can't build is the stuff that actually keeps a business alive: the property manager who calls you first when a unit floods, ten years of Google reviews earned by showing up on time, a trained crew that doesn't need babysitting.

Buying an Existing Business vs. Starting One

Here's what the boom coverage keeps missing: starting from scratch isn't the only way to own a business. You can buy one that already works.

Right now the biggest wave of retiring owners in American history is looking for buyers. Profitable businesses with trained employees, decades-old customer lists, and cash flow from day one. With SBA financing, a qualified buyer can often get in with 10% down and let the business's own cash flow service the loan.

Let me be straight with you, though, because I sit on both sides of these deals: buying isn't perfect. It's a faster runway.

When you buy, you inherit everything: the fifteen-year-old truck, the bookkeeper who does it her way, the customers loyal to the old owner's cell phone number, whatever the seller let slide in the last two years. You'll spend your first year finding the things nobody mentioned. And you're paying real money up front for cash flow a startup founder would be building for free.

The difference is what you're betting on. A founder is betting they can build something from nothing and the numbers say most won't. A buyer is betting they can keep a proven business running and fix it as they go. Neither is easy. One is a much better bet.

If what you actually want is ownership and income, not a specific idea you can't let go of, look at buying a business before you build one. You might land ten years down the road on day one. Just walk in knowing you're buying a head start, not a finished product.

What the Boom Means If You Want to Sell Your Business

If you've spent twenty or thirty years building a service business, this surge isn't competition. It's demand.

A growing slice of those 5.7 million would-be owners are figuring out exactly what I just said (buying beats building) and the buyer pool for good Main Street businesses is the deepest I've seen. Every week I talk to buyers who are funded, pre-qualified, and hunting.

But a deep buyer pool doesn't mean every business sells. It means the prepared ones sell faster and for more, and the unprepared ones sit. Buyers with options get picky: clean financials, revenue that doesn't live in the owner's cell phone, employees who'll stay, a lease that transfers.

If selling is anywhere in your five-year plan, start now. Recast your financials. Reduce owner dependence. Document your systems. The buyers are already here…the only question is whether your business is ready for them.

The Bottom Line

5.7 million applications says something real about American ambition. But ambition is the entry fee, not the prize. The prize goes to people who build, or buy, something durable enough to still be standing when the boom is old news.

Starting? Pick a business with a real moat, not just a good-looking website. And keep clean books from day one.

Buying? Get pre-qualified for financing and expect a fixer-upper with cash flow, not a turnkey miracle.

Selling? This is a strong market for businesses that are ready. Preparation is the difference between a premium price and a stale listing.

I get to watch this play out one deal at a time at the best seat in the house.

Becky Chatham is the Principal Broker and Owner of RLC Business Brokers in Orange County, California, specializing in the sale of blue-collar service businesses. Thinking about buying or selling a business? Call or text me at 657-566-0842 or email me at rebecca@rlcbizbrokers.com.