Perspective
from SVB's CEO

STARTUPS SEE BRIGHT CONDITIONS IN 2020

Greg Becker | February 11, 2020

Silicon Valley Bank is pleased to present our 11^th annual Startup Outlook Report, capturing entrepreneurs’ perspectives on the health of the innovation economy. For our 2020 report, we drew on 1,100 responses from technology and healthcare founders and executives based in the US, the UK, China and Canada.

The headline. Two-thirds of these entrepreneurs tell us they expect business conditions to improve in 2020, underscoring the resiliency of the innovation sector. This level of confidence has essentially remained unchanged over the past few annual surveys, even in the face of shifting economic and political headwinds and increasing scrutiny of the tech sector.

The 2020 results underscore a few key themes. There’s rarely been a better time to be an entrepreneur; almost all are planning to hire, and most of those who are attempting to raise capital report that they are successful. In many ways, technology has reduced the cost of entry, allowing companies to more quickly solve for product-market fit or move on.

But there’s another part to the story. As technology becomes embedded in nearly everything we do, the debates grow louder over who should have access to tech jobs and why most leadership roles still go to white males. Front and center now at the highest levels of many governments are discussions about how to handle data privacy and cybersecurity issues. And more than ever, we are all talking about the real-world impacts of the technology revolution.

Entrepreneurs are not ones to shy away from tough problems; in fact, they thrive on the pursuit of solutions. We do this report every year with the goal of helping startups, policymakers and the public understand what drives the innovation economy, and we hope you find useful information that can help you succeed in 2020. Let us know what you think.