Survey: How Small Business Owners Plan to Fund Growth in 2026

Small business growth in 2026 is being shaped by a single question: where will the money come from? To find out how owners are answering it, Crestmont Capital surveyed more than 1,200 U.S. small business owners across our applicant and client base, spanning industries from construction and trucking to restaurants, healthcare, and retail. The results paint a clear picture of an owner community that wants to expand, understands that outside capital is usually required to do it, and is making more deliberate choices about which funding products to use than ever before.

This report breaks down the full survey findings: how much funding owners plan to seek, what they intend to spend it on, which products they prefer, how long they wait before applying, and what stops them from pulling the trigger. Whether you are planning your own expansion or simply tracking the small business growth landscape, the data below offers a realistic view of how American businesses intend to fund their next stage in 2026.

About the 2026 Growth Funding Survey

The Crestmont Capital 2026 Small Business Growth Funding Survey was fielded among 1,200 owners of established U.S. businesses, meaning companies with at least one year of operating history and real revenue. Respondents came from every major region of the country and from the industries that make up the core of the American small business economy: construction and skilled trades, transportation and logistics, restaurants and food service, medical and dental practices, retail and e-commerce, manufacturing, and professional services.

We asked owners a focused set of questions about the year ahead. Do you plan to grow in 2026? Will you need outside capital to do it? How much? What will you spend it on? Which funding products do you prefer, and why? What has your experience been with banks? And what would make you move faster on a funding decision?

The goal was not to produce abstract economic theory. It was to document how real operators think about business growth funding when they sit down with their books at the end of the month. The answers turned out to be remarkably consistent, and they line up with broader national data. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there are more than 33 million small businesses in the United States, and access to capital remains one of the most commonly cited barriers to expansion. The Census Bureau continues to record millions of new business applications each year through its business ownership statistics programs, which means the pool of companies competing for growth capital keeps getting larger.

What follows is a complete breakdown of the findings, plus practical guidance on how to apply the lessons to your own 2026 growth plan.

Key Findings at a Glance

Before the detail, here are the headline numbers from the survey. Each one is explored in depth in the sections that follow.

• 68% of owners plan to seek external funding in 2026. Only about one in three respondents expects to fund growth entirely from operating cash flow.
• 41% say cash flow timing is their single biggest growth barrier, ahead of finding customers, hiring, and competition.
• Equipment purchases lead planned spending at 37%, followed by hiring and payroll support at 33%, inventory at 24%, marketing at 22%, and expansion to a new location at 18%. Respondents could select multiple uses, so the total exceeds 100%.
• 52% prefer flexible, draw-as-needed funding such as a line of credit over a single lump-sum loan.
• 44% waited three months or longer between realizing they needed capital and actually applying for it.
• 29% were denied by a bank before turning to an alternative lender.
• 61% say speed of funding matters as much as or more than the interest rate when a growth opportunity is on the table.

The through-line across all of these findings is simple: demand for growth capital is high, owners have specific plans for the money, and the friction in the process is mostly about timing, not willingness. Businesses that solve the timing problem, either by arranging funding before they need it or by working with lenders built for speed, are the ones converting opportunity into revenue.

Why Growth Funding Matters Right Now

Growth is expensive in ways that catch even experienced owners off guard. A second location needs a deposit and build-out months before it generates a dollar. A new service line needs trained staff before it can bill. A larger contract needs materials and inventory up front. In each case, the spending comes first and the revenue follows weeks or months later. That gap is the fundamental reason small business growth so often depends on outside funding, and our survey shows owners know it: 68% plan to seek external capital rather than wait for retained earnings to catch up with their ambitions.

The macro environment makes this more urgent, not less. Input costs remain elevated compared to pre-2020 norms, qualified labor is scarce in many trades, and competitors are investing. Owners who delay investment to stay conservative often discover that standing still is its own risk. A contracting company that cannot add a second crew turns away work. A restaurant group that cannot fund a build-out watches a better-funded competitor take the corner location. A medical practice that postpones new imaging equipment keeps referring profitable procedures elsewhere.

There is also a strategic dimension. Lenders and partners evaluate businesses on momentum. A company that can show funded, executed growth projects presents a stronger profile the next time it needs capital. In that sense, growth funding used well compounds: each successful project makes the next one easier to finance on better terms. This is one reason small business growth statistics consistently show that firms which invest through cycles outperform firms that invest only when conditions feel perfect.

How Business Owners Fund Growth: Step by Step

Our survey asked owners to walk us through how they actually fund a growth project, from first idea to money in the bank. The process below reflects the most common path, refined by what the most successful respondents do differently.

Step 1: Define the growth project in dollars

The strongest funding outcomes start with a specific number. Owners who could state exactly how much they needed, whether $85,000 for a used excavator or $250,000 for a second location build-out, reported smoother applications and faster approvals than owners with vague plans to borrow "as much as we can get." Lenders fund projects, not generalities.

Step 2: Match the project to the right product

Different growth projects call for different structures. Equipment belongs in equipment financing, where the asset itself secures the funding. Ongoing, uneven needs like payroll support and materials belong in a revolving line of credit. A one-time expansion with a clear payback period fits a term loan. Our data shows 52% of owners now prefer flexible draw-as-needed structures, a significant shift that reflects how uneven real-world growth spending actually is.

Step 3: Get the financial story in order

Respondents who prepared three to six months of bank statements, basic revenue figures, and a one-paragraph explanation of the growth project reported dramatically faster decisions. This is also where many owners discover their true borrowing capacity, which is driven far more by revenue consistency than by credit score alone at alternative lenders.

Step 4: Apply before the need becomes urgent

Here is where the survey delivers its most uncomfortable finding: 44% of owners waited three months or longer between recognizing a funding need and applying. Those who applied early, or who arranged a line of credit before they needed it, reported better terms, less stress, and a much higher rate of actually completing their growth projects. For a deeper look at proactive cash management, see our guide on working capital strategies for growing businesses.

Step 5: Deploy, measure, and build the track record

The final step is putting the capital to work exactly as planned and tracking the return. Owners who measured project ROI told us they found it far easier to secure their next round of funding, often at meaningfully better pricing. Growth funding is a cycle, and each completed project strengthens the next application.

The Funding Types Owners Plan to Use

When we asked owners which products they intend to use for 2026 growth projects, five categories dominated. Each serves a distinct purpose, and the best growth plans often combine two of them.

Business lines of credit

The clear favorite. A business line of credit gives owners a pre-approved pool of capital they can draw from as needs arise, paying interest only on what they use. For uneven growth spending such as hiring in waves, stocking inventory ahead of a season, or bridging receivables while a new contract ramps up, nothing else matches the flexibility. Our survey's 52% preference for draw-as-needed funding maps directly to this product.

Equipment financing

With 37% of owners naming equipment as their top planned purchase, equipment financing remains a cornerstone of growth funding. Because the equipment itself serves as collateral, approvals are often faster and terms longer than unsecured options, and owners preserve their cash and credit lines for operating needs.

Working capital loans

For growth projects that do not fit a neat asset category, unsecured working capital loans deliver a lump sum with a fixed repayment schedule. Owners use them for marketing pushes, hiring surges, soft costs of expansion, and the hundred small expenses that come with scaling. Speed is the main draw: these products are built for weeks, not months.

SBA loans

For owners with strong credit, time to spare, and larger projects, SBA-backed loans offer some of the most attractive rates and longest terms in the market. The trade-off is process length. Our respondents who had been through an SBA application described it as worthwhile for big, patient capital and painful for anything time-sensitive.

Revenue-based financing

A growing share of owners, particularly those with strong card sales or recurring revenue, are turning to revenue-based structures where repayment flexes with incoming revenue. Approval depends more on revenue consistency than on credit history, which opens the door for younger businesses. Our related analysis of revenue-based financing statistics and approval trends digs into how fast this category is growing.

Who Growth Funding Is Best For

External growth capital is not for every business at every moment. Based on the survey and our funding experience, the owners who benefit most share a few traits.

Established revenue. The sweet spot is a business with at least a year of history and consistent monthly deposits. Revenue consistency, more than any other factor, determines both approval odds and pricing across nearly every product category.

A defined project with a payback logic. Funding works best when the owner can explain how the money turns into more money: a machine that doubles capacity, a hire who brings billable hours, a location in a proven market. "We want a cushion" is a weaker application than "this $120,000 build-out adds a second bay that pays for itself in 14 months."

Timing sensitivity. If the opportunity will wait patiently, slower and cheaper funding can win. If it will not, and in our survey 61% of owners said speed matters as much as or more than rate, then products built for fast decisions are worth their premium. A seasonal inventory buy missed by three weeks is not a cheaper buy, it is a missed year.

Owners planning repeat growth. Businesses that treat funding as an ongoing capability rather than a one-time emergency tool consistently report the best outcomes. They keep their financials current, maintain a line of credit as standing capacity, and build a repayment track record that lowers their cost of capital over time.

Who should pause? Businesses using new funding to cover structural losses rather than to fund expansion. Growth funding amplifies what is already working; it rarely fixes what is broken. The honest owners in our survey who had used capital this way described it as the most expensive lesson of their careers.

Comparing Your Growth Funding Options

The table below summarizes how the major growth funding categories compare on the dimensions our respondents cared about most: speed, typical uses, and what drives approval.

Two patterns from the survey deserve emphasis. First, owners overwhelmingly rejected the idea that there is one "best" product. The right choice depends on the project, the timeline, and the company's revenue profile. Second, the 29% of respondents who had been denied by a bank did not stop looking for capital. They moved to alternative lenders, and the large majority of them were funded. As coverage of the small business credit market in outlets like CNBC's small business reporting frequently notes, non-bank business lending has become a mainstream channel, not a last resort.

How Crestmont Capital Helps

Everything in this survey reflects the conversations we have with owners every day. Crestmont Capital is rated the #1 business lender in the country, and our product lineup was built specifically around the growth scenarios owners described in this research.

Through our small business financing platform, owners can access business lines of credit for flexible draw-as-needed growth, working capital loans for lump-sum projects, equipment financing for vehicles and machinery, SBA loan guidance for larger patient capital, and revenue-based options for companies with strong sales and thin credit files. One application opens the full menu, and a dedicated advisor helps match the project to the product rather than forcing the project into a single box.

Just as important is speed. Our process is built for the reality the survey exposed: most owners cannot wait three months. Applications take minutes, decisions often come back within hours, and funding frequently lands in days. For the 61% of owners who told us speed matters as much as rate, that operational tempo is the difference between capturing an opportunity and reading about a competitor capturing it.

Real-World Growth Scenarios

Survey percentages are useful, but growth funding decisions happen one business at a time. These scenarios, drawn from the patterns in our data, show how different owners are putting 2026 growth capital to work.

Scenario 1: The contractor adding a second crew

A plumbing company owner in Texas has more work than one crew can handle and is turning away jobs weekly. The growth math: a used service truck, tools, and two months of payroll float for the new hires total roughly $95,000 before the crew's billings catch up. The owner pairs equipment financing for the truck with a working capital loan for the payroll gap. Within six months, the second crew is generating more than triple the monthly financing cost.

Scenario 2: The restaurant group opening location two

A fast-casual operator with a profitable first location secures a lease on a second site in a growing suburb. Build-out, deposits, and initial inventory run $210,000. Rather than drain operating cash, the owner uses a term-structured growth loan for the build-out and keeps a line of credit in reserve for the soft opening period. The second location reaches break-even in month nine, and the line of credit never gets fully drawn but earns its keep as insurance.

Scenario 3: The trucking company replacing aging equipment

A regional carrier runs older trucks whose maintenance costs are eating the margin on every load. Financing two newer used trucks through equipment financing raises the monthly payment slightly but cuts repair expense and downtime sharply. The owner describes it as buying back reliability, and the fuel savings alone cover a meaningful share of the new payments.

Scenario 4: The dental practice adding a high-margin service line

A dental practice wants to add same-day crowns, which requires an in-office milling unit and scanner at roughly $130,000. Equipment financing covers the technology with the hardware itself as collateral, preserving the practice's cash for marketing the new service. Within a year, the crown line is one of the practice's top three revenue sources.

Scenario 5: The e-commerce brand stocking up for peak season

An online retailer does 40% of annual revenue in the fourth quarter and needs to place inventory orders by August. A working capital loan funds the inventory build, timed so repayment tracks the seasonal revenue surge. Missing the order window would have meant an empty warehouse in November, so speed of approval mattered more than squeezing out the lowest possible rate.

Scenario 6: The manufacturer taking on a contract twice its size

A small manufacturer wins a purchase order from a national retailer that doubles its volume. Materials and added shifts must be paid for 60 to 90 days before the retailer's check arrives. A line of credit sized to the contract bridges the gap. The owner draws against it for materials, repays as invoices clear, and finishes the year with a larger customer, a bigger credit line, and a stronger balance sheet.

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Conclusion

The message from this year's survey is unambiguous: American small business owners intend to grow in 2026, and most of them plan to use outside capital to do it. Equipment and hiring top the shopping list, flexible credit lines top the product preference list, and timing, not willingness, is the obstacle most likely to derail a plan. The businesses that come out ahead will be the ones that treat funding as a prepared capability rather than a last-minute scramble: a defined project, current financials, and an application submitted before the need becomes urgent.

Small business growth has always rewarded owners who move when opportunity appears. The 2026 data simply confirms that the smart money is moving early. If your own growth plan is waiting on capital, Crestmont Capital can help you close that gap with the product, speed, and guidance your project deserves. Apply today and put your 2026 plan in motion.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general educational purposes only and is not financial, legal, or tax advice. Funding terms, qualifications, and product availability may vary and are subject to change without notice. Crestmont Capital does not guarantee approval, rates, or specific outcomes. For personalized information about your business funding options, contact our team directly.